Anfisa
by SanctusEspiritus37
Summary: It was never thought possible, that a child of two infected could even be born, and yet she's also retained her humanity. Rated M for the cussing, gore, and the sexual themes and actions in the later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_Alright. Before I get nasty comments about how this fan fiction is disjointed, please take in mind that this came from a "roleplay". A friend and I are absolutely in love with the WitchxHunter pairing, so when I came to her one day and said, "What would happen if a Witch and Hunter were able to successfully have a child that had the senses, reflexes, strength, and speed of an infected, yet still retained it's humanity? Was able to love, laugh, and speak?" _

_This fan fiction is what came out of that very idea. Anfisa is one tough cookie, just for the reason that I had an image of her stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out. She bothered me. She just wouldn't go away, so really, I've been wanted to write a fiction like this for a long time. _

_Armani Nightingale__, who wrote the fan fiction called, "Touches Provoke Reactions", is the story of how Anfisa's conception came about. It's got some interesting background information on the Witch and the Hunter that star in this fiction as well. Since Armani, The Flea as I call her sometimes, also works on this fiction, I do not want people whining to me that I stole the idea and characters from her. She writes this one too! I'm sure she also plans on writing more about the Witch and Hunter in her own fan fiction, so I suggest you read them, they're incredible. :)_

_This one will become a regular fan fiction, and will be found on my profile since I came up with the idea of having it be a "roleplay/fiction", and yes, it shall be a series, probably a very long series too. Drop some reviews on it and tell me and the Flea what you think. :)_

_NOTE! The Witch and Hunter are owned respectively to Valve. These particular ones are near and dear to mine and the Flea's hearts, but we cannot truly claim them._

_Anfisa, Jakobi, and Nira are out original characters. _

_Enjoy!_

_~SanctusEspiritus _

Very strange. All of it, very strange. There didn't seem to be a sunny day anymore, in fact it hardly ever seemed to be daylight now. Did that bother the Hunter? Not particularly no, because when it was light he was visible and when he was visible he was the hunted rather than the hunter. That just annoyed him. Prone position, the feel of the concrete against his clothes was another thing the Hunter had gotten used to but what he never seemed to get used to was the god awful feel of wet clothes. His hoodie was warm, he knew that, even though he was entirely freaky zombie now he could still feel the cold - hunger was another thing, he knew he'd have no problem cannibalising someone for food. He ate survivors all the time. What made him different? A largish silver cross about his neck, and the fact this Hunter seemed to have a fetish for med packs. The crying was starting to agitate him, but it also perked his interest. Okay, he'd heard a Witch crying before but why now? There was no one around, why was she crying now. At least, no other infected bar himself.

There were no other infected in the area, so truly why was this Witch screaming as if she were in pain? There was no reason for it. She had been in this state for many hours now, screaming and wailing as if she had been startled by someone. It was a loud and creening noise that was alerting her presence to all those within several miles, including survivors that would love to make sure that they did not run into her. So, where was she? She was resting herself inside of an abandoned house, in the bedroom of a an old couple. There was a dusty, broken picture frame on the floor that showed them, happy and smiling. That had been before the infection had taken place. The Hunter heard the screaming, and it was coming from none other than his Witch, the very one that he had visited more than once and mated with. It had always been something rough and not out of love. She was his mate, as strange as that sounded. It had been months since she had seen his face. Her body had changed. Her middle had ballooned out into a large mass. It almost looked like a beach ball had been attached to her stomach. Her breasts were swollen for some reason. This was unknown to the zombies. Never before had something like this happened. She was knelt down in the corner, her sobbed were rocking her body as contractions were forcing the baby in her womb to move down. She was pregnant, and in labor. This was something that never happened. Her dirty and blood-stricken palms were pressed to her eyes as she screamed in pain.

Mates. It was strange. Nothing like that had been documented. Probably because no survivor ever survived long enough to make a list because they got tore apart or stamped upon by a Tank. It amused the Hunter to see the Tank step on the survivors like the survivors would stamp upon cockroaches. The circle of life, eh? The screaming in the end was more of a curiosity perk er than an annoyance - this was life, screaming people. Be it Infected or survivors. He huffed, a comical expression and left behind his pile of packs, leapt across the rooftop and shimmied over the block or two before dropping down to find his way inside the house. Walking on two legs was okay, generally he preferred the four - easier on his back that way, oh what an old man, it was crumbling steadily on him but it would never give. No survivors would go near them, the Hunter also knew that many infected would steer clear. It seemed only this one was dumb enough to keep going back to the very thing that wanted to kill him. Eventually, he nudged open the door with clawed fingertips, peeked his hood covered head through. Dammit, he hated that noise.

A mating pair of infected individuals had never been heard of, not even among the infected themselves. They were always ignoring the others, or getting angry and trying to kill them. For right now, the Witch was finding her silence the only solace she could find. She had been shot at, set on fire, and who knows what else, but this pain was coming from inside her body. She could not explain it. Well, obviously she could not explain it. She had lost the ability to talk, or even think, for that matter. She shuffled a bit, moving when the pain did not hurt as bad. It came in waves. It had been getting worse over the course of a few hours. Her sobs had died down for a moment or so. She made small, sniffling noises. When that door creaked, she screamed in rage. It did not matter that she did not even see who it was, she was angry. They were getting close and making noise. She wanted it quiet. She just wanted to sit there and cry. She lifted herself up onto her frail legs and jumped at the intruder in her room, but she didn't get far at all. A strange noise escaped her throat, a strangling noise almost. She screamed, but scrabbled back into the shadows of the corner. She had her clawed fingers feeling the crowning head of the babe that she had been unknowingly working so hard to birth. She stopped crying once more, shocked by this alien thing that was sticking out of her. She shuddered, her body forcing the head out another inch. She nearly fell forward onto her face. Her hands shot in front of her and caught herself. She started to push against the pressure that had been gathering in her middle. The babe was birthing much faster now.

The Hunter ducked out instantly she leapt at him - like hell he was getting himself sliced and diced! Though, she didn't reach him and he found that strange because the last time she'd managed to get her ass in his scampering ass as he'd vanished, now she'd scrabbled away from him - so despite the obvious danger he crept further in and found some sort of peace knowing if anything happened he could very easily go out the window. Whatever it was, the Hunter did not want to know but he could smell blood and he was always hungry so he decided to stick around. It was true, even amongst the infected it was unheard of but it had been over 2 years since first infection, surely they were not the only ones who were mated? Around here they most definitely were.

Perhaps mated pairs were not that rare, but none of them had produced a child. That much was almost guaranteed. The Witch was shifting her weight again, making it possible for the child to come out without getting sat on. There was strange feeling that this infected female was getting. It was some sort of tie towards the little being that was sliding free of her body. She had scrabbled onto the bed, so when she felt the bed give a little as an extra weight hit the mattress, she turned to see the sickly little thing. It looked like a reptile. A lizard almost. She was ignoring the Hunter, the very one that had sired this strange little being. The Witch leaned down and sniffed at the cheek of the still babe. It smelt like blood. It made her hungry. She snarled and began to look around, hoping there was something more to it than just this little thing. A few moments later, it seemed as if her troubles were not yet over. She went back to pushing something out. A few minutes later, the after birth was laying on the bed, making it all the more bloody. Infected were going to come to the scene if she did not clean it up. She started to nip at the organic blood filled sac that had come out of her. She jumped and scrabbled away when it began to ooze blood. She snarled and went closer. Then she noticed that it connected to the naval of the little lizard thing by some sort of strange looking cord. She seemed to remember her own belly button. She leaned down and bit at the cord, close to the baby's belly. She left about an inch, but at least the cord was off now. She looked down at the placenta and cord. The blood was too tempting. Her eyes, red and puffy from her constant crying, were shining with blood lust. She at once began to feast on it. The baby hiccuped once, and then she suddenly screamed and squirmed. It was cold!

All the while, the Hunter had just watched with a very visible fascination. When the babe wailed, he jumped almost a mile before steadily creeping closer, chest almost touching the floor and regarded it with curiosity. Better look and run, Momma'd try and eat him when she was done with whatever it was she was nomming on. He sniffed quietly, then pulled back - it was squirming, and making noise, and, and, and it wasn't amusing the Hunter any at all but still - he was hungry. He sniffed briefly, leaned down and quietly licked the cheek of the child, drew back. Zombies were hardly the warmest of creatures, but at the same time everyone needed warmth at some point in their life. A very strange little being. So, what did he do? Licked the child but didn't look like he was wanting to pull off a chubby leg, nu, looked content to lie there in his prone position and lick the babe clean. Would Momma nom him? The Hunter was pretty certain she'd at least get pissed at him for breaking her rather large bubble of personal space.

The Witch was far too busy feasting on the nutrient filled placenta. She was aching, but obviously she did not seem to care. She had not been able to hunt very well thanks to the little lizard thing. It had not been easy for her to move much at all, so this was a much needed meal. It would help her strength to return. The Witch had finished her meal, and boy did she look the part of a true zombie. Her fingers and mouth were covered, soaked in blood. She had not noticed the wailing of the child. It had calmed down when the Hunter had been licking it. Perhaps that was strange, but what was this Witch to think? She had never come across a strange little being. She stared, unsure of what the Hunter was doing. She growled, crept closer and snatched up the babe in her clawed hands. She held her close to her chest, snarling at the Hunter as she moved back into the corner. The babe now had her eyes on what she had been wanting. The Witch had lost her shirt ages ago, so she was sitting there naked. The babe latched onto one breast and greedily nursed. The Witch howled in surprise and nearly dropped her little lizard thing. She was still eyeing the Hunter. She wasn't crying. The Witch was not crying for once.

He'd not been hurting it! It'd stopped screaming, for now at least so when she snatched it the Hunter just looked unimpressed and gazed at her through blackened eyes and scuffled backwards when she yowled. He didn't move back any farther, just sat himself down and watched the two. Someone had ate well, and it seemed the little blob of flesh would also be eating well if it was eating now so the Hunter turned and shimmied to the window. That's when he noticed. She wasn't crying. That was odd, odd enough that it made him turn around and go back again to look at her fully. So, in reality they were both staring at each other? That worked for him, because as he saw it she wouldn't drop the little blob to chase after him, and considering he'd stopped the thing from crying would she still try and eat him? Most likely, but bleh, this turn of events was far too intriguing to leave.

That little blob, lizard, baby had grown. She had grown into a young lady that was just like her parents. Sort of. She had the strength and speed of both of them. She was able to jump like her father, be able to soar over fences and all sorts of other obstacles. She had the sense of smell like them both. She had come used to the fact that blood would attract her to almost anything. But perhaps the most interesting things was that she retained her humanity. She was strong, swift, fast, and yet she could speak and think. She could laugh and love. It was something that was unpredicted. The child of two infected had ended up being almost human, of course with the exception that she sometimes tried to eat other living beings, but she had been getting better at controlling the hunger. She had gone to eating greens. She did not eat meat any longer. Perhaps the most impressive thing was that she could be out in the open with other infected, and they ignored her. She could stand right beside a tank, and it would not bother her. She ignored them most of the time. But she'd found her own little obsession. Weapons. She loved gathering them and leaving them inside a little room. The very room where she had been born. Her mother was still in that house. Since she now had a being that brought her food, she did not have to wander. She still cried though when she was alone. She did not cry when her daughter came to her. The girl was the only one that could get close. Now, she was racing over the rooftops, a smile on her face while a howl escaped her throat. She was enjoying herself. She had found herself a pair of jean shorts that fit nicely, and a zip up hoodie that went over the grimy bra that kept her bust in place. That was all she wore. She had no need for shoes. She turned her head, her black hair was a mane. She could hear him, the Hunter. He was always with her.

Daddy always followed her, he was never that far away. It wasn't that he disliked her going out on her own - of course not, why did he give a rats ass, no one touched her - but because she often went about gathering weapons and going by people and that often led to med packs. That, and he seemed to have the natural instinct to follow her around. The Hunter tended to stay around the area of the house when he wasn't out stalking his daughter or trying to eat a person, he lounged outside the door where the Witch normally stayed to be and never got closer unless he got that strange feeling of his lower regions. The Witch didn't seem to have birthed a baby lizard again, so that was alright. It was amazing really how the girl had survived. The Hunter paused upon a roof top, shimmied along in his cat-like way and looked down with a noise, talons gripping the edge. Was that survivors, could he hear them? Certainly he could smell them. Ah! There was one, come bolting out of a building with a hoard in tow. This was a girl, a woman no doubt, middle aged. Behind the hoard stepped out a younger man with a cross not too different to the Hunter's own but rather than going to help the woman - she'd been torn apart by now anyway - he turned and vanished down the other end, jumped up a wall and grabbed onto a balcony to pick himself up - doing so would save himself from some infected, but not from the Hunter.

The girl saw the Hunter as her protector. Sometimes she had pissed off a spitter or smoker, and he had always been there to help her. It was an odd sight, seeing such a human looking girl with a Hunter that stalked her. The Witch and Hunter continued to mate, it seemed. The girl was an oddity, perhaps she would be an only child. It was not some big deal anyhow. The girl paused. She could smell the living humans as well. Her nostrils flared and the sweet smell of blood filled her senses. She was purring. She did not like to eat meat anymore, but the scent of blood was one that not even she could resist. She watched as the Hunter began to move closer to the edge, she did as well. She inched closer and looked over the edge. The older woman would not last a second longer if someone did not stop the infected. The girl felt moved to help her. She looked down at the hunter for a moment or so before she crouched down and sniffed his face before she licked his cheek. Then, she jumped down from the building and hid in the shadows. She put her hands to her face and suddenly wailed, moving in the same sort of fashion that she had seen her mother make. She had perfected this. She truly looked like a Witch. The infected all turned to look at the girl as she hobbled near them. She swore that she had never seen them move faster. They were suddenly gone. The woman was alive, fear in her green eyes, but at least she was alive. The girl dropped her hands and was down on her hands and knees, moving much like her father did. She inched closer to the woman, sniffling lightly. How would the woman respond?

"My god, I've lived too long to get torn part," She whimpered, scuffling around on her person for bandages and god knows what else but she couldn't patch herself up on her own, that, and the girl in front of her was freaking the living daylights out of her. Said woman just stared at her, entirely blanked with fear and skittered backwards but she'd dropped her gun and was helpless. That was the good thing, the bad thing? A laser sight had settled onto the back of her saviour's head. The Hunter spotted it too, spotted it before his daughter and shimmied, leapt from his rooftop and atop the man that held the gun with a shriek.

The woman did not have to worry about the girl that was sitting in front of her. Just for the reason that she had blue eyes. Yes, she actually had eyes that held color. She was not a zombie, that much was clear just looking at those curious eyes. She moved forward and sniffed at the woman for a second or before she reached for the med pack, looking at it. She tried to pry it open. It wasn't coming open. She growled in frustration and began to beat the back against the ground, trying to see if it would crack open that way. She didn't notice the little zipper on the side. Her father never let her mess with his hoard of med packs. She finally spied the little silver zipper. She plucked at it. It still refused to come loose. She snarled and chewed on it. As she chewed and jerked on it, the zip came clean and the bandages fell loose onto the ground. She dropped the med pack and sniffed at the bandages. She shook her head before she simply handed them over to the woman, a bright smile on her face. She dropped them on her stomach then turned to the pistol. She made a strange noise, one of happiness and picked it up. She sniffed at it and bit at it in certain places. She was purring. She tucked it away before she turned back to the woman and nudged her, making her get up. That was when she heard the shriek. She looked up to see her Hunter on top of the young man. She blinked once or twice, then simply ran over to where the man was. She jumped up to the balcony with ease. She pressed her weight against her Hunter and handed him the empty med pack, her head cocked to the side. She licked his cheek and nudged him off of the young man.

Her Hunter moved when he was nudged, nomming on the top of the med pack and looked slightly blank when he realized it was empty but let it hang out of a clawed hand anyway. The woman had bandaged herself up then picked herself up as she was nudged the stand and swayed, reached to pull free her knife and let the girl keep her weapon - she seemed far too dazed to realize that this blue-eyed female had run off with her only firearm. The man had been howling, wouldn't you be if you had a Hunter clawing at your clothes? Her Hunter made a noise when he was ushered off, a sort of calm bark and sat there in silence, looking between her and the man - who stared up at the sky for a few seconds before pushing himself to sit and staring up at her. His only weapon it seemed was a bolt-action rifle that lay discarded on the floor, the crudely attached laser sight still active.

She giggled. Yes, she giggled. She was capable of that. She was giggling at the sight of her Hunter chewing on the empty med pack. He loved them for some reason. She was always able to get her way with him if she gave him one. Of course now he had himself one that was empty. She went over to the rifle and looked it over a few time. That was when she saw the laser sight. She suddenly jumped and braced herself on the concrete, her breasts pressed against the cold and watched it with fascination. She was purring. She picked up the rifle and began to chew at the laser sight, eager to get it off. This rifle would join her collection. And this laser sight? She was not sure yet. It came loose from the weapon and clacked against the concrete. She put the rifle down and sniffed it. When she picked it up, she looked at the little dot that moved across the ground. She was still purring. Her hands reached out to grab the little red dot. When she found that she was not holding anything, she gasped. She tucked the laser sight away and picked up the rifle. She threw it onto the roof before she looked down at the woman and now to the man. "Come on," She said simply with a smile.

The Hunter watched them with interest. The man stared at him, wide blue eyes and holding his breath before quietly pointing at the Hunter "He won't... Kill us?" the man answered, his voice smooth but just on the rough part of post-breaking. The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Who cares, Jake. Just go with it, we're dead as a pair," she responded. "Jake" pulled his lips back from his teeth but he didn't argue, slowly picked himself up and watching the Hunter then the girl as if waiting for one of them to go bat-shit insane on his ass and eat him. Though, the girl seemed far too intrigued with his rifle sight and the Hunter was chewing on an empty med case. Fair enough, he guessed.

"No, he might kill you," She said as she looked up at the building and just jumped up with ease. She looked down at the woman and cocked her head to the side. "But with the med pack in his mouth, I'm hoping it'll keep his mind busy. He's a very simple fellow," She looked to her hunter with a purr and just motioned for him to follow. He would, of course. She leaned down and grabbed the young man by the wrists and pulled him up as if he weighed nothing. She rested him on the roof and said, "If you pick up that rifle, he will hurt you," She jumped down once more and began to help the woman up as all as she said. "You two will be safe with us though. The infected don't come around me," She said as she picked up the rifle that she had snagged from the young man and began to lead them back toward the house in which she lived. "You guys will need to be very quiet when we get back though. If not, it will be instant death," She warned ahead of time. Surely they were going to ask questions. As, why was she able to be around a Hunter without him killing her?

"But... You speak about him as if he's no bother to you," said the man, watching the placid Hunter as he wandered along happy as pie with a med kit in his mouth and purred happily. He'd never heard one purr. "You pick up the rifle but he doesn't try to gut you," he said while the Hunter stopped, stretched and yawned with his claws racking across the gravel. Nomming on a med pack was nice. But when they got home he'd probably go and bed his Witch, it was one of his favorite things to do when he got horny or bored. The woman simply nodded, supported by the man she'd pulled up before. Survivors, actual survivors.

" He isn't a bother to me," The girl said as she set the rifle down and got down into a position that was like his. She inched forward and sniffed at him, grinned and then shot forward and grabbed the med pack with her own teeth. She loved playing with her Hunter just like this. She felt like a child again. As a young girl, she had always attached herself to her Hunter's back and just let him run with her there. She had been able to hang on thanks to her infected-like strength. She growled and jerked herself backward, knowing that it would make him annoyed and then he would play back. These survivors did not understand. Actually, they were the first human beings she had ever actually been able to talk to. It was great. She was finally able to use the vocal chords she had been training up until then. Tapes, CDs, and even radios had come in handy for the girl. She had taught herself to speak. She dropped the med pack before she picked herself up and snagged the rifle. "Of course not. I collect weapons. That, and he's my Hunter," Wait, they would not understand that. Her brow furrowed, then she remembered the right word. "Father. I mean he's my father."

The Hunter made a noise when she grabbed his med pack, growled at her and when she jerked back he pulled back his own way, reaching out to grab her like he had when she was a child and roll around in the gravel with her, snapping and snarling at her to get back his pack. Someone was protective. To many outsiders it looked brutal but he never harmed her, he liked playing. When she stopped, he sat back on his ass and scratched quietly at his temple under the hood. As a babe, when she'd attached to him he'd let her, when she'd come and hid under his jacket during winters, he'd let her. She could push him around and he'd let her. "How can he be your Father? You look human," the woman said finally, eyeing the thing that scratched like a dog with the pack in front of him, picked it up when he was finished. "Jake" just watched them quietly, his brow raised, his arms folded across his chest but weary all the time of his surroundings.

"I look human. So does he, but he's an infected. So am I. In a way," She frowned. How was she supposed to explain this? "Did you not notice that I can jump just as easily as he can?" She asked as she motioned to the Hunter that seemed so insistent on chewing on the med pack. She had always been close to him. The Witch had just huddled up in her own little room and just cried softly when it had been that cold. The girl had hidden under his hoodie and stayed there for the longest time. Now, she was too big for that, but she still adored the Hunter. She was sitting down. "I'm the result of him and a Witch mating. I don't know how it worked, don't ask me. I just know that I came from them," She answered as she kept leading them on, moving over the buildings briskly. It was bad to stay in one place. They would alert a horde if they did not move fast enough. She began to her the Witch's wailing. They were close to being home. She looked happy. She stopped on the roof beside the house that she lived in. The wailing was loud, very loud. "When you come in, be completely silent. Until she stops crying. Once she's not crying, you'll be okay. Wait to come in when my Hunter does," She just jumped across the alley way with ease - one that was well over fifteen feet across - and soared through her bedroom window. She placed the rifle down on the floor, where she had gathered countless other items. She took out the laser sight and snuck into the room where her mother was wailing. She inched closer before she whined. It always got the Witch's attention. She waited until the wailing stopped, then edged closer and handed the laser sight to her. She was always bringing the Witch something interesting when she went out with the Hunter.

The two survivors gave each other bewildered glances, this girl was from two infected people mating? Well. Nothing was crazy these days, nineteen years on; it was a miracle they were still alive. Jakobi had been born at the start of the infection, the woman he travelled with had been born fifteen years before. Jake watched her jump, his brows furrowing but now - seeing that - he had no other choice but to believe her. She was at least partly infected then. The Witch had stopped her wailing when the girl had whined, watched the laser sight through half closed red eyes and took it in a small palm to look at it with interest. It seemed she had been just as curious as the younger female had been when she'd found it. When the wailing stopped, the Hunter moved across the street and through the front window, pushing the curtains aside as he did so. The survivors exchanged glances, frowned but then silently crept after him, both quiet. She'd got a Witch to stop crying, of all things. A silent Witch, a tamed Hunter. Said Hunter was milling by the stairs to wait for her to come down. If their blob of flesh brought the Witch something interesting, she could be quite quiet for a few minutes when she was left alone, it was normally then the Hunter normally snuck up for some fun time.

This girl did not have name. She had lived seventeen years, and she had not been given a name. She yawned widely and had a very gentle smile on her face. She was the only one that could touch the Witch without getting mauled. She nuzzled her face into the Witch's shoulder for a moment or so before she backed away and stood so that she could go down the stares. She knew where the Hunter kept his hoard of med packs, so she snatched it from him with a growl and disappeared once more to hide it in it's place with the others. The Witch was being quiet and was amused by the little gift that her child had brought her, which meant that the Hunter could do and pin her down. It usually worked like that. The girl looked to the two survivors and said, "You'll be safe here. The Witch normally does not move from her room, and when we are here, she does not cry. If she's not crying, you're free to walk around. Just don't go in her room. My Hunter will bring her something to eat. That's when you want to stay completely silent," She nodded. It was good they knew these things. She strode into the kitchen and looked around for something to feed them with. She had no name. Would they ask her for one? Jakobi was the name of the boy. She looked to the woman, "What's your name?"

Her Hunter let her, then when the coast was clear Jake heard him shuffle upstairs and the thud of bodies on a mattress. "I believe you know," he murmured ever so quietly. "Nira, Nira Southworth," she made a motion to the man who'd perched precariously on the edge of a worn couch. Jakobi Barlow raised his hand simply. "What is your name then, our mysterious savour with infected parents?" Nira asked. Her brown hair was cut into a bob, she wore nothing but a salmon pink top covered in dirt and blood with a pair of baggy jeans. Jakobi wore a leather jacket, a silver cross and a pair of dark trousers and boots. He had no shirt. Of course, from upstairs there wouldn't be very much noise - there rarely was if the two were up there alone.

"I don't have a name," The girl said softly, her gaze was averted from the two survivors and just came up with old packs of ramen. She snarled at them before she threw them behind her. She moved out into the garden in the back. She grew her own food, since she refused to eat meat. She looked at the plants and inspected the fruit and vegetables that had grown there. She found a few strawberries and cherries that were ripe. She picked them and then snagged some of the tomatoes and lettuce. It was not a feast, but it was probably the first real meal that the two humans inside had eaten in a long time. She hugged them close to her chest and carried them back inside and set them down on the table in front of them, watching them carefully. She moved back and began to remove the jacket she wore. She put it down on the ground. She had nothing on underneath but a bra. She was hearing screams and cries from outside. The girl lowered her head for a moment or so before she stood and shook her long mane of hair out, letting it cover her face. She put herself near the door, "Don't speak for a few minutes." Maybe they could give her a name? She put her hands over her eyes and just wailed. She truly did sound like a Witch. At once the infected began to scrabble away from the building.

Jakobi watched her in silence and when she wailed he felt Nira snuggle into his arm, cling to the leathers of his jacket. The noise shocked her, it did. Nira had been fifteen a the start of the apocalypse. Jakobi had grown up within it, it made no difference to him now if he heard a Witch. His youngest memory was of that noise. She had no name? _Now that won't do,_ he thought quietly to himself as he watched her wail, then heard the scrabbling with a silent snigger. Upstairs he heard the vague shifting too, but the Hunter was far too happy to screw his own Witch to be wary of one downstairs. Strange, very strange. "Well, we'll have to give you a name then won't we?" he said once he knew it was safe to talk. "It depends. The decor of the house seems... Russian, maybe? Makes sense you'd have that mind set. Natyashenka? Nah.. Ilga, Grace, Maria. Anfisa? Take your pick, it's up to you." Indeed, the plants she'd picked for them would be the sweetest, freshest that they'd tasted in years. Jakobi had been brought up on rehydratable foods.

The infected that shuffled past the house noticed the wailing of a Witch, and when they saw her, they knew well that it was not wise to get close to her. She was ignored then and they passed on. When the girl stood, she gave a grin. She did not have to do this, but since there were survivors in the house, she would keep them safe. She did not like the idea of them dying. So, she would make sure that Jakobi and Nira were going to live. She knew not what names her parents had used to go by. She simply knew them as the Witch and her Hunter. That was how she had been born thinking, and that was how it was going to continue to be. She crawled back over to where they were and listened to the names that Jake uttered. She cocked her head to the side. "Anfisa. It's Russian for flowering," The girl blinked once or twice. She had a name now. Anfisa.


	2. Chapter 2

_Update._

_I think me and Sanctus are gonna take it in term writing these author thingies?_

_Okay so you guys know the drill, I'm not gonna keep yowling at you about disclaimers because you pretty much know that the only characters we can claim as our own are Anfisa, Jakobi and Nira for now, Valve – unfortunately – own all the rest, I know I'm not happy about it either because the Witch and Hunter are my babies._

_Reviews get cookies and plushies and prize mentions next chapter. Don't flame, the Flea (me) is very good at making people "eat their words" so to speak if they start to flame. This DOESN'T take place during L4D or L4D2 so I believe you won't be seeing any of those characters in here. _

_Teeeheee, we've already started later chapters and it is gonna be hawt ladies and gents ^^ Trust the Flea when she tells you that but other than that you'll have to bust your butts waiting for the chapters. _

_So we're thinking about updating once a week? That way we can get sufficient roleplay done on both this and our other roleplay to actually make the chapters interesting. _

_I've gabbled far too much now… So the Flea's decided to leave y'all to it._

_~Armani Nightingale _

Jakobi rolled his head on his shoulders and groaned softly when the muscles and bones cricked. That had felt nice. He'd stretch properly later when he could be bothered, he had food and that was all he cared about. "Huh, so you know the meanings before I do," Jake smiled lightly with his head tipping and gazed at her. Who was this woman, truly? With the sanity of a human but the abilities and powers of an infected, born from a Hunter and a Witch. Strange, so very strange, also very concerning. What if she gradually slipped into the infected pattern the older she got? Jakobi shrugged off the thought, toyed with the cross. He wasn't a religious man, he had no need to be, he'd never gone to church or even prayed but the cross held some sort of value to him. When he'd been six, he'd found it just seconds before a Smoker had managed to wrap its tongue around him. Desperate, he'd tried in vain to snap it, to get it to let him go. Said cross came in rather handy when it came to jamming it through the tongue. The Smoker had let him go and fled. Her Hunter and the Witch. They were her parents, she could understand them and they her but she also knew the language of the humans. Could she bridge the gap, maybe?

Anfisa was ignoring the sounds upstairs. Jakobi and Nira didn't have the infected senses like she did. She could hear the growls and snarls for the Witch and her Hunter. She scrabbled into a chair and watched them both. "There is a settlement not too far from here, it houses survivors like you guys. I've seen if from afar. I'm sure that they'd take you guys in," The girl noted as she pulled herself to stand. If she did slip into the mindset of an infected, she would be a new breed of infected. She could be like a Witch, or move like a Hunter. It was truly a question as to what her future would hold. No one would know. "You two may kill all the zombies you want. Just don't hurt the Witch or my Hunter," She said, watching them both carefully. If they hurt her parents, she would not hesitate to go after them. Anfisa did not have a lonely existence, but it was very quiet most of the time. Her Hunter did not speak, so when it was only her and him, she simply spoke how the infected did, with grunts, groans, grumbles, growls, and snarls. It was that simple to her.

"Mm, the Witch doesn't move far, right?" Jakobi responded, one arm resting on the table and watched her levelly, like he would any other survivor. Nira was chewing on an already chewed-to-death-nail. "Any idea how to distinguish your Hunter from the bountiful others out there?" If they were able to, they'd avoid her Hunter to the best of their capabilities. "We heard there was one around, it's partly why we showed up here, that and our other town just got overrun, every safe house was poof," Jake made a motion with his slim hands. "No provisions left." Of course, the little chorus of noise the Hunter did make, Anfisa could most probably understand what he was wanting. There had been a time he'd glomped her from afar - that had been funny. Not there one second, splat on her back the next.

"My Hunter wears a cross around his neck, a lot like yours. That and he's likely to be the only one that you will ever see running around with a med pack in his mouth. I'm still not sure why he likes them so much," She said as she thought about it for the first time. She was not sure why her Hunter was so obsessed with the little red things. She had just known that from the very beginning that she could remember, he went out and he gathered them. She watched Nira for a moment or so, "Don't chew on your nails. It's bad for your health," She said with a very small sigh. "You guys should try to eat something. You can stay here for tonight, but if you linger too long, even my scent and that of the Witch will not cover it for long," She was gone again. She had hopped over the counter of the kitchen and was moving somewhere in the back garden. She was going to get some clean water for them. There was an old fashioned hand pump there, so the water was still clean.

Jake looked down at it quietly, then he nodded and turned, shimmied into the living room to curl up to sleep on a chair. Nira blinked at her, but she paused in her chewing and left it at that, ate what she was given gratefully. Her Hunter was back downstairs by the time she got back, lazing by the back door. He seemed to like sleeping in front of doors, too, another of his quirks. They couldn't stay that long? They'd have to move on then, try to avoid any major highways and large stores, definitely don't go through shopping centers and keep to back alleys with ways of getting onto rooftops.

Anfisa had gathered water in some dusty glasses and went back into the living room where the two survivors were going to sleep. She put the glasses down onto the table in the middle of the room and simply said, "There," She gave a smile, and then she was back up the stairs. She didn't snuggle with the Witch. But she did like being near her when she slept. She always slept close to one of her parents. She snuck into the room where the Witch was resting in the corner again. Thankfully, she was not crying again. She nuzzled the frail Witch for a moment or so before she was curled up on the bed and was going to fall asleep. The next morning she would show the survivors off. She had a feeling in the pit of her belly that they deserved to have her help. But she could just not simply leave, could she?

She could, if she wanted. Did she want to stay around that same area forever? If she wanted to go her Hunter wouldn't stop her. Perhaps he'd make noise, spaz out a bit but he wouldn't try to stop her - especially if she did go into the settlement. He'd be shot if he got anywhere close. The two survivors downstairs slept happily, the Hunter had probably moved from the back door to sleep amongst this hoard of med packs. No one knew why he adored them so, but he did. Nira had given her a warm smile, Jake was already asleep. It seemed they hadn't had a decent meal, bath or drink in a good long while - thank gods she'd taken them in. The Witch - when snugged - didn't sniffle nor cry and let her do so, claws flexing slightly but not with malicious intent and the red eyes watched the youngster fall asleep, leant back in her corner mutely.

What the girl was wanting to do was find a way to cure her parents. There had been people looking into it, and the settlement was likely one of the few places that would know if it was possible, but would they take her in? She was an infected. She moved, sounded, and sometimes even looked like one. There was no way that they would let her in. She'd be shot at, but just like her Hunter would. Besides, she could not abandon the Witch. The Witch was her mother, and the very thought of abandoning her just made the girl's skin crawl. No, she would have to make up her mind as to what she was going to do for these two survivors. The night went by, but Anfisa did not stay asleep. She had crawled out onto the top of the building and simply looked out at the city around her. Did she truly want to stay here?

A Smoker lounged nearby, coughing and choking its way through the night but it generally ignored her. That Smoker seemed to hang about the neighborhood for some unknown reason but her Hunter never started a fight with it so it was pretty docile towards her. Did she want to stay there, with the death and the destruction or did she want a chance to live around people she could speak to properly? She was left alone in her thoughts, but things were never really quiet, a charging Tank roused Jake but other than that, there was nothing going on.

There was not much that could rouse Anfisa when she fell asleep. She glanced over at the smoker that was lumbering around as if it had a place to go. No. She had made up her mind. She would go with Nira and Jakobi to the settlement. When she got there, she would find a way to safe her parents. She was not going to let them rot out in the wild city alone. What if they were killed? She would not be able to stand the thought. She inched down the roof to the window of her bedroom. She moved inside and looked through her arsenal of weapons. She could let Nira and Jake use some of them. She had such a wide range of fire arms and other weapons, plus ammo, that it was shocking. She had also stocked up on pills and adrenaline shots, so if they needed those, she could let them take some as well. She moved silently through the night. When she found the room that was filled with nothing but med packs, she quietly scrambled up the mound so that she could finally sleep beside her Hunter.

He was curled up in a cat-like fashion, legs pulled to his stomach and arms curled up underneath his torso amongst the mounds of med packs. It was really quite amusing, both father and daughter seemed to hoard weapons. How very quirky. The Witch still had the laser sight, she'd seemed rather happy with the gift she'd been given. When Anfisa climbed up, he cracked a colourless eye open and rumbled in the back of his chest but he didn't move nor rouse fully. He was used to her coming in.

Anfisa had given the Witch many a strange and interesting gift. The laser sight was just the newest one to add to the collection. It seemed to calm the Witch when she had something interesting to play with. The girl slept beside the Hunter for the rest of the night. There were howls and roars that echoed through the streets, but they were nothing that Anfisa was not used to. She was used to seeing the odd tank going after a jockey had disturbed it's rest. It was rather amusing to watch as well, to see those annoying little nuisances get what they deserved. She hated a lot of the other infected, especially spitters. They were the only infected that openly tried to kill her. They were probably just jealous that she was actually fairly pretty, while they had a long neck and was fat. Who knew.

Who knew indeed? Her Hunter DESPISED Jockeys. He'd torn one apart in a fit of temper after it had cost him lunch. The Jockey had become lunch after that. Spitters were just the undead versions of bitches, the Hunter paid them fairly little attention. Her Hunter was gone in the morning but the med packs beneath where he'd lain were still warm so he hadn't long since buggered off - probably gone to get something to eat, nom on a dead cow or whatever he could get hold of. The two survivors were huddled together in the morning, curled up under Jake's large jacket, back to back rather than cuddling. It kept them warm.

Anfisa woke up to find that the room had been abandoned by her Hunter. He was likely toying with one of the lesser infected or something like that. She was not sure what he was doing, but she took the liberty of snagging a few med packs. Nira and Jakobi would need them for the trip that they were going to have to go on. She moved through the house silently. The Witch was still silent, so Anfisa was hoping that she would not become startled if the two survivors came up. She set the things to the side and then moved down the stairs once more. She watched the two humans sleep quietly. They would be missed. They had been the first human contact she'd had other than the dead survivors that she had seen her Hunter feast on. She roused them quickly. "Come. You will need weapons for the journey, and now is the time to get them while the Witch sleeps."

Nira sat up quietly and Jake left his jacket on the chair, stood up and looked at her with a nod of his head "We'll be silent," but of course, if they startled the witch they were dead people. Her Hunter was out elsewhere, toying with a rat and being thoroughly amused by watching how it moved. They'd beg her to come, she didn't deserve to stay there when she could easily be with people who could understand and talk to her, who could give her the best - in the circumstances - life that she could lead until she died.

The girl gave a nod and began to lead them both up to the second floor. She was being extremely careful, standing in front of the door of the room where the Witch was sleeping. She could hear her gentle breathing, but she was still not sure if the infected female had woken up or not. When Nira and Jake scooted behind her, she seemed to just melt away from the door. Good. They had a few minutes before they were discovered by the Witch, and Anfisa was hoping at the laser sight was still interesting to her. She shut the door behind them all and motioned to the room. Really, the only place that did not have weapons was the bed, but that was only because the girl had to have somewhere to sleep. "Go on. Choose your weapons. Be quick about it. Two weapons only. I can bring the other supplies down to you. You'll need them for your journey. It's a long one,"

Jake slid in quietly, he had his knife still in his boot anyway so they'd be taking three weapons. Nira only two. Jake didn't seem all that cautious, he'd fought off Witch's before but all the same, he was silent as he crossed the room and looked for each weapon. In the end he settled for a Dragunov sniper and a rifle which he could easily silence. He'd been around them his whole life, guns didn't make him flinch. Nira had such hesitations, picked up a pistol and a twelve-gauge. They still had time before they were discovered, but Jake was out of harms way first of all.

Anfisa led the two back downstairs once they had gathered their weapons up. She had handed them extra ammo, just so that they would not run out if they were not near a safe house. She went back up and snatched up a few bottles of pills, some shots, and the med packs she had taken from her Hunter's hoard before. She hauled them down the stairs, her arms packed full of the supplies. This would be plenty for them, no? She dropped the med packs, shots, and pill bottles onto the table before she said, "This plus some food should be able to see you guys to the nearest safe house, I'm hoping," She nodded lightly before going out to see what fruits and vegetables would be easy to carry, and also provide them with the energy to fight off the infected and travel all at the same time. She felt a burden on her heart. This was surely going to be her first and only encounter with humans.

Jake whipped out a bag from no where - he'd stashed it underneath the couch overnight. He settled in the shots she'd given him and various others, strapped a med pack to his leg and ran his hand through his hair to muss it. Nira nudged him "We can't leave her here," she whispered and Jakobi nodded "I know, I know..." he said gently. Said Hunter wouldn't miss a few med packs right? "Anfisa, you haven't got a map have you?" He asked before she vanished outside, looking around in his pocket. The one he had was old, worn and falling apart at the creases. He couldn't keep using it. Nira continued to pack the bag while Jake stood there and silently rocked back and forth on his heels, tensed when he felt a clawed hand grip his thigh and sniff at the med pack with a snarl. He looked down, stared, whimpered. Hunter, her Hunter, would it eat him?

Her Hunter would not miss them if she was able to distract him. For once, her super hearing did not catch what Nira whispered to the young man. He had been born about the same time that Anfisa had been born. She was young as well. She lifted her head when he asked her a question. She thought for a moment or so and nodded. [b] Yes. [/b] She went upstairs to where the Witch was hiding. She had thrown the laser sight to the side, so it no longer distracted her. The girl picked that up as well as the map that she had showed to the Witch not too long ago. She nuzzled the Witch's cheek before she left. She had a silent communication with the Witch that she knew as her mother. With the Hunter, she was much more vocal. She was humming as she came bouncing back down the stairs. When she looked over and saw the Jakobi had disappeared, she too slipped through the front door. That was when she saw the Hunter gripping the young man's leg. She switched on the laser sight and suddenly started to draw the Hunter's attention with it. She knew that he was going to be just like a cat, trying to get it. She made the dot move away from Jake.

The Witch just whined when she left but didn't begin to cry again until she was sure she was on her own, huffing with a whimper. With the Hunter she HAD to be more vocal otherwise he ignored her completely, nuzzling, licking he normally responded with, however if she started to growl and bark at him he normally barked and played with her. Jake watched in silence, the red dot and the Hunter watched it as well, his claws contracting around the muscle and ripping into the jeans but it hadn't gotten through flesh before the Hunter pounced upon the dot with a cry, talon claws digging into the ground and when it moved he scuffled after it. Jakobi stared, then silently slunk away back towards Anfisa and stood behind her "Life saver, you are," he breathed. He'd been born perhaps a year or two before, but he was still born during the tie of infection. They'd both grown up in the same environment, but with very, very different upbringings.

Anfisa would likely go back up when she had sent Jake and Nira off, then she would comfort the Witch and then go to find something interesting to entertain her. The girl was good at doing that. She kept moving the dot about, giggling as she watched the Hunter growl at it and chase after it with such a ferocious resolve, much like a kitten would chase after it. It made her want to join in. She looked over to the boy that had nearly lost his leg. She looked him over quietly before she smiled, "I'm often called that, well, by you and Nira at least. I've never had to look for ways to save people. The other infected never bother me. I look too much like a Witch for them to want to even see what I actually look like," The girl was smiling. She kept moving the little red dot before she was sure that her Hunter would not go after the med pack again. She growled something at him for a moment or so then just handed the map over to Jake and said, "I already circled the area on the map where safe houses are located, and of course the settlement."

"You should come with us, you know... That house won't kept you sheltered forever, eventually it's just going to crumble from under you unless it's treated right," He murmured softly, looking over part of the map he could see. "That's because you are a life saver, I still have a leg. What IS his fixation with packs?" he asked, watched the Hunter charge about the roughed up tarmac after the dot until it vanished, growled at her when she snarled and stretched out lazily, stared around until he saw something move in the shadows then turned, shot away and tore into a thick body with a happy yowl. He was happy. "Me and Nira, we could keep you safe. Your... Your parents," **-** silently he faltered. She wouldn't leave them and he knew it without even saying anything.

"I could come with you, but what would I do? If those humans don't shoot me on sight, which they most likely will, they would never let the Witch and Hunter in. I can't just leave them out here to die. He's my father... he's been there for me. He's the only thing that I know. And the Witch... my mother..." There was a look in her eyes. She wanted to go. She truly did want to go with them, but they would never be able to travel. The Hunter was easy enough. Anfisa would be able to keep his attention and make sure that he didn't try to go after any of the survivors that they met. She could just not leave like that though. What would happen? And the Witch. The Witch would never go easily. Besides, binding her and keeping her tied up was not an option. She knew not why the Witch cried, but she certainly did not want to be the cause of her own mother crying. She fell back against the steps and just sat there, looking at the ground. "If I go, and we do find help, I want your solemn word that you will do anything to protect my parents. I will not leave them here if I go with you and Nira."

Jakobi raised a hand, "I solemnly swear if anyone touches either of your parents ill knock them the fuck out with whatever I have in my hands at the time," he answered, looking arond and then down at her. Although comic, he sounded serious. "Protect them, hell, do whatever you want for them but this isn't right, you staying here. I'm sure if we thought hard enough we could find a way to get them both transported safely," her father, well, it'd be easy, just lay out a trail of med packs and he'd go mad like a klepto. The Witch would be the hardest - typical women - to transport. Nira stepped out behind them, the twelve gauge in her hand, her weary gaze on the Hunter as he happily ate, blood dripping off his fingers and lips. He, in turn, sneered at her and seemed to make a show out of freaking her out. Jake looked unphased by his show. "He's more show off than others."

Anfisa looked like she was close to asking him what the f-word meant, but she simply shook her head and just sighed. He was serious about this, was he? He wanted her to come with him and Nira. And what would happen if the settlement decided that the Hunter, Witch, and Anfisa had to die? The girl would put her own life down on the line to make sure that her parents were not harmed. It was not their fault that they had become infected. But in truth, she was so desperate for them to become cured, that she never looked into the possibility that her blood was the answer to it all. The girl was watching Nira now, with that shotgun in hand, she could understand why her Hunter would sneer and growl at her. She looked over at the Hunter before she growled at him lowly, trying to get him to settle down, "I guess so."

The Hunter wriggled, dragged out the intestines of the lesser infected and tucked in happily with a snarl, ignored Nira but twitched every time the shotgun was moved. He'd only gone after Jake because he'd seen a med pack, now the man had that hidden with his jacket around his waist her Hunter was no longer interested. After a while he leant up, quietly crawled over to her and nuzzled his blooded face against her hand, growled rumblingly and just sat in his crouched position by her, looked around through under his hoodie.

The Hunter was met with a low growl, but she poked him. That was how she generally greeted him when he decided to nuzzle his face against her hand. She was smiling gently at him but looked to Jake, "As long as you keep the med kit hidden, he won't bother you. I'm still not sure why he loves them so much. I've seen him sleep while cuddling one to his chest," She said, looking down to the hunter at her side. He was a very simple fellow. As long as he had one of those little packs, he was happy.

He blinked when he was poked, but then his attention turned from her and he generally just looked about, chattering his teeth as if he were cold but he always did it when he grew bored and there was nothing to chase. If he tried to attack these survivors, his daughter wouldn't be very happy, would she? Jakobi stared down at the Hunter but he nodded "I'll make sure he doesn't see it," he said, peering at him. "I wonder why, perhaps something subconscious from pre-infection?" he said to himself. Nira jigged nervously, "We need to go,"she disliked staying in one place too long, it seemed. Poking the thing in the face... Jake wouldn't go within three feet of the Infected even if he had to poke it with a knife

Anfisa knew that Nira was getting nervous, and the girl did not blame the woman. She looked at her for a moment or so before she said, "I know of an... RV? It still has gas. I've been keeping gas cans there, just in case I would ever need it. Just have all the bags and what not here. I'll go get it." Did she know how to drive? Not very well. They would leave the driving to Nira most probably. She backed up quietly before she growled to the Hunter. She would have him come with her, she just was not sure that she trusted him being alone with the two survivors. She had completely forgotten about the one aspect about leaving the two survivors alone. What about the Witch? She was surely stir if someone was not there to keep her company. Oh boy. This was going to end badly.

This was going to end badly. The two nodded then retreated into the house to avoid being eyed up by a hoard and escape the Smoker that peered at them with too much intent. The Hunter snarled back at her, then crawled off after her, stopping to stretch out over the tarmac and yowl like a feline before picking himself upright and trundling after her again with a snarl. Jake and Nira thought they were safe... They were wrong. The Witch was growing board, she wasn't asleep either. Perhaps one of their most dangerous trips, staying inside the house with a Witch. "Not a sound," whispered Jake when he heard the audible cries. Nira just stood there and trembled.

What was her gift going to be to the Witch this time? An old hand mirror that she had found inside of the RV. Honestly, she had been stacking up those interesting items, knowing that it would keep the Witch happy to have something to play with, instead of chewing on the Hunter if she got bored on a long trip. Well, now it was going to be more of a challenge, keeping her happy with two humans inside that small enclosed space. It would take Anfisa a few minutes to gather everything up before she was even able to start the vehicle. It took about ten minutes to get from point A to point B. She had forgotten about the Witch and the fact that she had left two humans alone in the same house.

Nira was stock still in the front room, chewing on her lower lip. Jake still moved around, but he was so quiet when he did so, until he took a step onto the stairs and peered up. That alone wouldn't cause the Witch to go bat-shit, she just wailed slightly louder. Her Hunter remained there while she got everything ready, crawled about the RV and chewed on the tyre but his teeth were never sharp enough to puncture it. He'd be okay on the trip as long as he had a pack or two to keep him amused. The Witch would be much harder, especially considering her unsociable nature. By the time she got back, all shit would've broken loose and why? Because of one unfastened weapon. Enough noise to rouse and startle the Witch.

Nira was smart to just stay still. It was truly the only thing that would keep her safe from waking up the Witch, well, startling her rather. It was never a good idea for something like this to happen, for once the Witch was startled, she normally did not stop until she had her victim dead and gutted. This time, however, Anfisa was going to stop it from getting too bad. She'd be able to keep both Jakobi and Nira safe, it would just take a few long minutes for her to first get there. Anfisa had pulled up in the RV to hear the screams of the Witch. Her eyes widened once, then she simply jumped through the window and made a break for it. She had to get inside before one of them was hurt. She vaulted over the couch and pushed Jake out of the way, holding her arm outside. She knew that the Witch would only bite once, then realize who she had attacked instead of a human.

The fallen weapon hadn't come from Jake, it'd been knocked off the table nearby by something else but he wasn't entirely sure what. He stumbled back when she pushed him, his hands gripping at the walls just as the Witch pounced, her long arms outstretched with her claws blooded from the half a cow's leg her Hunter had brought in for her, teeth sinking down into the nearest inch of flesh she could find which - unfortunately or fortunately depending on your view point - was her daughter's arm. She knew instantly. The human she was after was muscled, larger, this arm was slim and had a familiar scent around it. It took her a while, through the angered haze she realized. She'd missed the boy. She'd bitten her daughter.


	3. Chapter 3

_I know that it's been awhile since I last updated Anfisa, and I'm very sorry for that. I promise that there shall not be another three month gap between chapters. At least, the Flea and I shall try as hard as we possibly can to make sure that it doesn't._

_I would like to give a shout out to __**XxAnimeTechnoFreakxX **__for giving two very encouraging reviews and for sending me a very polite private message as to why I was taking so long to get these chapters out. Thank you! XD_

_Actually, because of that, I shall be releasing two chapters tonight and then before the week is up, I should have chapter 5 up as well. From there, the Flea and I can keep on working on more chapters. Just know that the fic is going to get fun soon! In just the next chapter we will meet two new characters._

_Also! Forgive me and the Flea for this being a short chapter, but all of the exciting stuff starts happening in chapter 4! This was just a filler. :)_

_~SanctusEspiritus37_

Was he lucky she'd jumped in front of him? Yes. Would the Witch have torn him to shreds? Jakobi had no doubt in his mind that's what the frail grey thing would have done had their strange companion not suddenly leaped in the way. How they'd lured the Witch onto the RV? Simply give her something amusing and let her daughter take her out slowly without freaking her out. As Jake watched he could briefly see a flicker of guilt on the white haired woman's face. Her response when she'd bitten down into the skin had been almost electric, she'd jumped back with a wail and fled back up the stairs to where she'd been before, waking up the Hunter on her way through. Said Hunter went with his med packs, so he was easy to get on board the RV when the time came to shift his ass. Jake was waiting by the door in silence, waiting for Anfisa to come out from the back and give them the all clear. After that he was going to sit her down, see to her arm and they were going to talk. He was curious, he wanted to know more about her and now they seemed to have their own mini fortress complete with its ghosts - in this case zombies - he was slightly more relaxed and almost eager to sling his rifle across the table.

The good thing about being infected with the zombie disease was that she healed rather fast. She had screamed in pain and pulled away from the Witch quickly. The girl had rushed out the front door of the old house and had hidden herself away for a few hours. Anfisa had not been angry about what had happened, but it had hurt. Her mother had not meant to bite her. She had meant to take care of Jakobi. Anfisa piled up a few more of the packs into her arms and carried them out to the RV. She dropped them in the back room and she sat down on the seat. She turned her head and looked at her arm. Her lips pulled back and she snarled lightly. If Jakobi was wanting to get to know her better, he was certainly allowed to do so.

The Hunter had scurried up into the RV quite erratically, legs flailing and chasing after his med-kit holding daughter until she put them down, to which he paced around them then made his home on the bed, ruffling and tearing up the sheets and falling asleep amongst the shreds. The Witch had deposited herself in the corner and was wailing softly. "I'm sorry about pissing off your mother. How's your arm feeling?" Jake asked as he quietly settled down into a chair opposite, removing his weapons and putting them down strategically. Nira pulled away and the RV was off. The large vehicle was in the hands of a semi-certified driver, better than anyone else on board.

"My arm is fine." the young woman said as she stood up and looked down at her blood quietly. It was still oozing from the wound. She glanced at Jake for a moment or so and then her lips met the skin. It was the easiest way of cleaning the wound. Besides, she thrived on blood, even if it was her own. When most of the blood had been lapped away, she simply found some discarded cloth and wrapped it about her room. Anfisa tugged it tightly and she glanced out the window as Nira drove the large vehicle away from the building where she had been born and raised. "This is odd for me. I've never been out of this city before." Anfisa spoke, watching Jake with those strange colored eyes of hers.

"We've been out before, me and Nira. But its dangerous out there and going out when its just the two of you's incredibly dangerous, ya know? One dies the other 'ent got a chance in hell." he looked somewhat freaked out at her lapping of the wounds. But if it helped he refrained from commenting on it and silently looked back to the weapons he'd put on the table. Nira glanced back at them briefly and then gently rolled her shoulders and slipped back into the typical motions of a driver, occasionally having to move around cars at a gingerly slow pace but as long as no Infected were informed of their location going a snails pace was fine for Jake. Said bulk of a man moved after a moment and pushed the opposite chair out with the toe of his boot. "Sit, might as well, we'll be here for a while."

"I can't sit in one spot. I shall get paranoid." Anfisa said and continued to watch the outside world. She could see many of the infected that were fighting with each other over a stripped human carcass. They had eaten everything. There was nothing left of the poor guy that had been stupid enough to walk through the city without any companions. She quietly looked back at Jake and she slid open one of the window before she crawled out of it and onto the top of the RV. She squatted down and just sat there, the city was going by her. She had been in all of the nooks and crannies of the place, and suddenly, she felt as if she had no idea where she was. It was a strange notion, leaving the city. It had been her safe haven and her playground. Now, it was just a passing scene. Anfisa tipped back her head and she let out a feral scream. It was her strange way of saying "good-bye".

"That noise makes me shiver." Jakobi heard Nira murmur quietly. Jake had to agree, perhaps it was the thought of having two Special Infected in the back and one very Special Infected now sitting on the roof. The Hunter had always liked that place, now he merely sat by his packs and ignored the goings on like he had no clue. Truly? He didn't but said scream made him stop and sniff about for a moment or so. The Witch was ignoring him for once, sitting in a corner and scratching quietly at the mirror she'd been given with a quiet sob. "The moment we get to the Sanctuary of the base we'll be safe, until then just keep driving."

There were many things about Anfisa that was very wrong. First off, she was the daughter of a Hunter and a Witch, both of which were very infected. Many of the scientists that had not been infected by the virus had determined that the reproductive organs of the infected had all but shriveled up and died. It should have been impossible for the Witch to get pregnant like she had. Second, she seemed to have the perfect balance of humanity and infection within her body. She was able to think and speak just like a normal human. She was able to control her hunger for flesh and her thirst for blood. She was able to control all over those strange emotions. However, she also had the heightened senses that came with being in an infected. She had the reflexes and the strength. She had once gone up against a Tank just for the fun of it. Guess what happened? She had been much too fast for the beast. She had not killed it, but she had injured it some and had never got hurt at all. Anfisa crawled back inside the window and close it behind her. She ignored Jake and moved into the back bedroom. Anfisa snuck up to the Witch and sniffed lightly, not wanting to make the infected woman upset.

She just seemed to balance a little _too_ perfectly in a broken world. But hell no were they going to start bitching about something like that. She was welcome with them and they'd treat her like a normal person. Okay, others may no have been as wiling to trust her but she'd saved their lives and no infected who'd lost their humanity would do that. She had that human side, and something told Jake she'd be amusing to hold conversations with. The Witch stopped her pawing at the reflective surface and raised her head to look at her, lank grey hair falling into her eyes and made a loud enough noise that Nira glanced back over her shoulder but the Witch wasn't upset, at least, she wouldn't attack her child, she wouldn't.

She did. She was balanced and she had what it took to survive if it truly came down to it. She knew what she would have to do in life to get anywhere, and she knew that it was going to be messy and disgusting before it was all over. What she had not yet realized was the different in the Witch already. The infected woman had bitten her on accident when Jake had woken her up only the morning before. Well, even though they did not yet realize how important her blood could be to the betterment of human kind, they would know eventually, and it was going to be a good day when it finally came out. Anfisa smoothed her own hair back from her face before she pressed her cheek against the Witch's arm. It did not last long, however, she was wanting to play. She was wanting to play, and she knew just how to do it. Anfisa peeked over the edge of the bed before she suddenly launched herself forward and knocked the Hunter off of the bed.

Blood made the world go round, or at least, after the major discoveries ahead of them it certainly would and hopefully it could be used on a wide scale. Hopefully, there were others like Anfisa out there to help. Oh well, time would tell. The Witch did nothing but make a shockingly cooing noise in the back of her throat, her legs curled up under her and looking frail enough to blow over in a gust of wind. The Hunter knew better. When she tackled him off the bed the brute made the strangest of noise, wriggling until he could almost bear hug her and glomp her back in response, snapping and growling but not with hostile intent. She wanted to play? Then he would play. Normally it ended up with him nomming on her leg - never breaking skin - but that was some amusement at least.

Anfisa yowled from her place on the floor. He had pinned her down. Well. This was just not going to work for her. She was lithe enough to squirm out of his powerful embrace. Anfisa busted out of the back room, knowing that he would follow. She was also fairly certain that he would not attack their driver or other passenger. She hoped not. She wanted to keep them both in one piece. They were kind to her and they were easy to talk to, unlike her silent and animalistic parents. They were both cold and both had no idea what it was to be alive anymore. They were not really dead, but the virus was what was keeping them alive in most ways. They should not have been able to reproduce and have a child, but they had, and that child was very healthy. Anfisa snarled playfully and jumped at the Hunter again. She wanted Jake to see just how harmless her Hunter could be when he was feeling placid or playful.

Jakobi did nothing but silently pull his legs up so they rested against his chest and watched as the Hunter reared back lightly onto two legs to catch her against his chest easily. Nira glanced back at them every so often but the roads out of town were crowded. Jake wasn't howling in pain so the Hunter seemed more engrossed in play. The thing was bigger than Jake, when he finally stood in the way a normal person would have and from that Jakobi could make out certain characteristics of the man who'd been before. Someone tall and powerfully built, perhaps an athlete of sorts. Many hunters had that graceful leap about them but if one studied closely enough they could determine what the person had been like before. Jake found his lips slipping into a pout and grabbed a piece of paper before silently looking away from the tussling duo and pulling a charcoal stick from his bag. The Hunter was very happy to just play, be it him underneath or her. He never once used his claws nor his teeth for hostile purposes, though Jake did catch him nomming harmlessly at her every so often.

There were so many things wrong about a young woman that was playing with a hunter as if there was nothing wrong with either of them. Jake would probably have to keep his legs out of the way, but that was pretty much all that he would have to do to keep himself from getting torn to pieces. Anfisa had barely been able to relax and just keep playing with her father when she suddenly heard the roar of something angry and very large come bowling down the street. Anfisa's breath hitched and she crawled out from beneath her father and she ran to the back of the RV, grabbing a Molotov and she crawled out through the back window so that she could get onto the roof. The main problem with the enemy that they were about to face was the sheer size of the tank. It was nothing but muscles. It was like trying to get through a brick wall. Anfisa lit the cloth and she suddenly took off running down the length of the RV before she launched herself into the air. She threw the Molotov down into the path of the tank. It let out a roar of rage and turned itself away from the RV, heading towards the girl that had just throw a firebomb onto it. The bottle had shattered and the fire spread all over the ground. The pulled her shotgun free and she at once began to fill the beast with bullets, even as she landed.

Was she expecting to do it alone? In fact, the Molotov trick pretty much was a good idea but Jake normally dosed the thing in alcohol THEN lit it... A Molotov worked nicely, bile bombs also worked nicely too. More than nicely. Pipe bombs were no good because they weren't sticky at all. Nira instantly stopped the RV and ducked lightly while Jake got up and grabbed his rifle, took out of the side to lean. Her Hunter had followed her without a care in the world until he heard the roar, then he too became angry and instantly took off to go and help his daughter, scattering down the length of the RV and going through one of the front side windows and let out a shrill squeal and leaped upon the back of the beast. Hell. He helped when he could did he not? If that muscle busting beast got any closer and made anymore noise it was going to seriously piss off the - as of yet - docile Witch. That would not be good for any of them, not one bit.

The tank was angry. It was hungry and it was not about to let one little twig of a girl, a thing boy, nor a hunter get in it's way of getting food. It was angry and it was going to show it's anger by doing the one thing that it knew best. Charge, beat the crap out of the things, make lots of noise, and throw rocks. The second that the Hunter launched himself onto the tank's back, it roared even louder and began to beat the ground in anger. Unfortunately, since the tank had been set on fire by the Molotov that Anfisa had thrown, the Hunter was going to be very careful by the way that he clung and clawed at the beast's flesh, or else he would get set on fire as well, and that was not a good idea. Nope. Not at all. No one was wanting to watch the male infected get burnt to a crisp. The tank suddenly lurched forward and began to run at Anfisa. It ran by the back of the RV several times, each and every single time it made more noise than before. Anfisa knew exactly what was about to happen.

What happened was very explosive, very sudden, and very predictable. The Witch was many thins, easy to calm? Fuck no. The frail grey woman suddenly let out such a howl as she took off right at the window and climbed out and without warning suddenly began to chase the tank around. Come on, it was kind of funny to watch. Witches were notorious for chasing hunters, chargers, anything that made noise and this bitch had made enough noise to piss the Witch off to a whole new level. The Hunter dropped off its back like a leech, not willing to get set on fire nor shredded, he was just comfortably crisped when the Witch set on the tank with a frenzied scream and slashes of her claws. Hell yes. She was going to MINE MEAT this tank! And it deserved it! Stupid noisy fucker.

No one was surprised to see that the Witch had been awoken from her trance like state and her constant sobbing. It was no surprise, but it was pretty funny to watch a woman that resembled a twig chase after a flaming tank. It howled in rage as her claws sank into it's hide and just started to slash away as it's flesh. It hurt! The tank turned and had been so close to pounding his large fists into the Witch and breaking her in half. Anfisa had jogged over to Jake, stolen his rifle, taken careful aim, and then she just pulled the trigger. It was surreal to watch. The bullet sailed through the air and made contact with the tank's forehead. The bullet went right through the skull and into the head of the beast. It died roaring. It fell to the ground and it did not stir again. Anfisa lowered the rifle and watched it for a second or so before shoving the gun roughly into Jake's chest. She then just inched closer to the Witch, her head was down low and she was soon close enough to the angry, screaming woman that she wound her arms around her waist and Anfisa let out a whine. That whine almost always worked on claming down the Witch.

The Witch didn't stop slashing away at it until the heavy lump was on the floor with a bullet in the head. In fact she was still slicing and dicing away when Anfisa wrapped her arms around the fragile body. The whine stopped the woman from stabbing away with her claws and looking down at her daughter with quiet but angered snarls. She was still angry, she still wanted to eat it but at the same time she liked the feeling of being held in a creepy sense. In an animalistic sense it had a calming effect on her because she didn't feel so alone. The Hunter was sitting behind the dead Tank and looked very, _very_ unamused. I wonder why...

He was covered in bone and brain. Evidently he hadn't been able to move in time to stop from being covered in Tank brain. "Charming." Jakobi muttered quietly. When she shoved, Jake grunted but caught hold of the rifle and reloaded on instinct. Damn. No one was startled the Witch had gone for it and Nira wasn't sliced and diced.

Well, the drama was not yet over. Anfisa was normally very docile around other infected when they didn't attack her. Well, that was normally. She backed away from her mother and she had been close to leading the Witch back to the RV so that they could get the joint back on the road, and so that they did NOT have to worry about getting attacked again. Well, at least for a good length of time. Anfisa suddenly heard a belch and she felt something warm, slimy, and so foul smelling fly all over her body. The girl paused, looking down at herself before she turned slowly to look at the boomer that had thrown up all over her. Vomit. Disgusting. Anfisa growled lowly before she let out a scream that could rival her mother's own screams and she ran forward. Anfisa had claws. They were sharp and most of the time she filed them down. So far she had not had the chance, so they were severely sharp. Anfisa screamed and began to rip the thing apart. It exploded and made her stumble back several feet. "I hate these things!" she shrieked.

"You're not the only one!" Jake replied. With just the two of them, a Hunter and a now docile Witch could they really fight off a horde? "Nira, ninja sword!" Jakobi chorused instantly and from the RV Nira tossed a large balanced blade with black handle and Jake quietly shouldered the rifle in favor for said sword. When it came to it, that and an adrenaline shot was all that was needed to go running through a horde. Boomer bile 99% of the time attracted a horde, that was what he was waiting for now. The Hunter was too busy scratching brain off itself to notice, and Anfisa would definitely need to jump in a lake or something after that hair smoothing experience... That was just disgusting.

Anfisa was already in witch mode. She figured that she might as well stay in it while the hordes began to pour over the sides of buildings and what not. That's exactly what happened. There was a collective scream from the closest horde, and they just began to swarm. A few jumped off of buildings and died on contact with the ground. The infected girl looked over at where her mother was probably just sitting and crying, and then over to where her father was busy trying to get fragments of brains and other foreign matter off of his body. They were going to be no help unless a zombie woke the Witch back up again. That was the last thing that they needed. Anfisa closed her eyes and shook her head. She turned to face the horde and she screamed and ran after them. She was angry and now she smelt like a vomit factory. That was just disgusting.

That was disgusting and the last thing Jake wanted was her going by him until she'd had some sort of shower. He didn't like boomer bile, but when it came close to him... Hell it made HIM throw up. Right now he was attacking with a ninja sword being a ninja, permanently rotating and trying to avoid feeling dizzy and slamming the sword into the nearest clump of infected. Blood and bone and brain soaked them and he could hear the RV's engines starting. If they could just get on board without any Infected going with them - and unlikely chance considering the Witch couldn't be rushed on board - then they could get out of there. The Hunter stopped his spazzing, and shredded the nearest person with a happy shriek. Food! The Witch was set off again, it wasn't obvious by what, but she was off like a rocket. Jake could do nothing but shake his head whilst he fought. Dammit. Now he had two bitches screaming.

Finally, after Anfisa had been smothered in vomit, brains, guts, and blood, she got enough of them off of her that she was able to move over to where her mother was slashing away at the infected people. Several were cut open right there, their entrails spilled out from the deep gashes to their bellies. Many died there while a few more tried to drag themselves away from the Witch. Anfisa whined and tried to lure her mother back to the RV so that they could hop onto it and get themselves out of the area before they were being attacked by even more infected. Ha! That was sort of the last thing that they needed, considering that they already had a horde after them. Anfisa growled at the Hunter, all but ordering him to go back to the RV. They needed to get inside. Actually, in her frustration, she hauled her mother up into her arms, even if she was still screaming and clawing, and she just ran the rest of the way. When she got the RV, she shoved the screaming Witch through the open window and then she shut it tightly. She ran over to where Jake was fighting. She grabbed the boy by the back of his jacket and she dragged him inside before closing the door. "Go!" she ordered Nira.

Nira wasn't one to quibble, stamped down on the accelerator and pulled away instantly with a squeal of rubber. Nira lost track of how many infected she hit on the way out and the screaming Witch had all but been wrestled to the ground and stripped by the Hunter, dragging her back into the back bedroom to screw her until she dropped off. It wouldn't take all that long. Since she was on such a slim diet and had such a fragile body, the little Witch could barely go two rounds at a time without passing out for up to a day afterwards. How did people think the Hunter got her to sleep? Do something sexual to her and she was sparko. Jakobi dropped the rifle, locked the door then just dropped into a heap on the floor. "I am NOT leaving this RV for ANY reason for the next THREE DAYS... Does everyone understand me?" That meant three days, when their fuel ran out and they'd have to go and get some more. It was strange how the Witch and Hunter communicated between one another, it really was funny but at the same time it worked and Anfisa could understand the two in her own little ways. The horde was left well behind, well, what bits and pieces of them not left on the front bumper were.

"That sounds pretty good to me. I refuse to leave as well." she growled and looked down at herself. This was so disgusting! She was covered in zombie entrails and who knows what else. The girl stood up and she moved towards the back of the RV and she could hear the noises of her parents starting to get frisky. She shook her head and she looked over at where poor Jake was still passed out on the floor of the vehicle. "Just stay there for a hours and don't come back this way unless you want to hear my parents doing... disturbing things." Anfisa then scooted herself into the small bathroom and she closed the door. It was a very good thing that the RV had a full bathroom which would allow them to shower. In this case, it saved Anfisa the time of having to go and find a clean enough water source to clean off all of the gunk that was clinging to her body. Well, as dirty as she was now stepping into the warm water of the shower, she knew that things were only going to get more... messy.


	4. Chapter 4

_It's nearly 4AM... What am I doing? Anyway, away from that stupidly random comment. Chapter FOUR is this one, it's been a while and yes we know V.V Keep the stone throwing to a minimum here because we really do have busy schedules and a different thing takes up most our time :O_

_We've got quite a few chapters done, worked out various plot lines but I tell you not D It will be good. ALRIGHT, those who know about Touches Provoke Reactions, the prequel to this, will know the characters a little better that come in with this chapter. We've had some great reviews coming in, Sanctus and I and we really do enjoy reading them, it gives us a boost and makes us want to keep on writing._

_You know the deal, you know which characters we own and which characters we don't, who they belong to yadda yadda I wanna get on with the baking mama.  
>As well as this, Touches Provoke Reactions will be updated within the next day or so, so go check that one as well but READ THIS FIRST. I know other chapters will be coming up as soon as they'd been polished up a bit from their raw format.<em>

_I'm tired, tis bedtime, am about to splat the keyboard so good night all you happy fellow readers._

_- ArmaniNightingale x_

She had bitten her daughter, but in doing so had also drank quite a substantial amount of blood. Enough that it had attracted the Hunter to come through the window. It had to hurt, the slow change back HAD to hurt. The Witch hadn't been that much of a bother too them, she'd sat there and cried to herself even when - and he did it just to test - Jakobi got close to her. Not just that, but she slept more too and it seemed like her gangly caws were becoming oh so slightly shorter. It would take time, time was something they didn't have. Jake glanced over his shoulder quietly, checked on her. She and the Hunter looked to be so peacefully asleep in the back. "Let's hope it stays that way." he mumbled. Oh he had no idea.

She had bitten her daughter, but perhaps that had been a good thing? Anfisa had not known that there was a secret hiding in her blood. She had not known, and she would not know until she stopped hearing what she knew she was supposed to be hearing. The Witch cried. That was what she did. She was kept in the back room of the RV. There she was less likely to be startled. Of course when she suddenly stopped trying to kill Jakobi every time he got close to her, it made the infected girl worry about the Witch. It had been two weeks since they had left the little house where she had been born and raised, and in those two weeks they had battled through a horde, nearly lost Nira twice, been attacked by a tank, and were still only half way to the settlement. Anfisa was yawning quietly as she moved into the back room, looking at her Hunter and the Witch.

The Witch was awake. Awake and staring at her in complete silence. She wasn't crying, it seemed and thus, her Hunter hadn't moved an inch, curled up around a med pack and growling happily to himself, curled still further tighter and snarled. Every so often Jakobi would test he, first a little, then more, then definitely at the range she should've just minced his ass bt the Witch hadn't moved a muscle. Nira had just commented that it might have been moving that had triggered her strange behavior, but Jakobi was convinced it was something else. The Witch didn't move, but when looked it just stared straight back, red eyes slightly paler than they had been before, almost pinkish. It seemed biting her had been a good thing.

Of course Anfisa was worried about the Witch. She was her mother, and she had always done things to make her happy. It had not been right when she acted this way. She was supposed to be crying and wailing, not sitting there and staring at anyone that came close. Anfisa sat down on the bed and watched the pair for a moment or so. She was amused that her Hunter seemed so obsessed with that medpack that she had given him to snuggle with. It looked like he was a small child that was trying to snuggle with a teddy bear. Nope. He was a fully grown man, albeit he was infected, but he was still a grown man. She slunk over to where he was and inspected his face for a moment or so. A grin spread over the girl's lips before she snagged up the med pack and disappeared through the window, onto the top of the RV. She knew he was going to growl, spit, and snarl when he discovered that his med pack had been nabbed.

He'd had Jakobi once. No one knew why the Hunter had suddenly spazzed out. Jakobi had been unarmed and just wandering around when they'd stopped for a break, the Hunter had gone for him and left several pretty gashes in his back. Jake had avoided the Hunter from that moment onwards. The moment said med pack was nabbed and she'd vanished out of the window, he awoke with a spaz and flailed hard enough to shove the silent Witch off the bed, snarling and crouching on the bed. No one took his med pack, he wanted it back!

She was sitting down on top of the roof, the med pack was clutched in her hand before he came up onto the roof. When he did not show up and merely began to snarl and crouch, Anfisa rolled her eyes and crawled back down into the line of sight. For such a fast and swift being, he was not always that smart. She perched herself just outside before she jumped through the window, smacking her weight into the Hunter, growling and snarling. It was not the noise of anger and annoyance, but rather play. She had his med pack, she even showed it to him. She giggled and began to throw it out the window, well, pretend to at least.

The creature had never leaped so fast, shot out from under his daughter and scrabbled with a yowling noise towards the window. For an elegant beast now he moved out of pure impulse. He didn't want his pack going anywhere. "_Gabriel!" _the voice was sudden, it was hoarse and the new noise caused the Hunter to drag at least three different duffel bags worth of guns onto himself. The Witch stared at him in silence, was that color coming through at her roots? It seemed the Witch was very close to changing.

Anfisa had been giggling like mad. It always amused her at how quickly he would put himself in danger because of the med pack that he loved so much. She had just been about to throw it to him, but she heard that hoarse shout, and her body froze. Her eyes widened and she looked around the room. It had come from the Witch. It had to of come from her, Anfisa had not said a word, and Nira was at the wheel of the RV, so it could not have been her. The girl dropped the med pack onto the floor before moving closer to the Witch, looking at her carefully. There was color. She was having color come back to her hair. Her eyes seemed softer than normal. The girl waited for a moment or so before she simply asked. "Did you just say something? Jake! Nira!" She called as she moved in the blink of an eye to the door.

The Witch peered at her quietly, raised her head somewhat and blinked at her in complete and total silence. "He always was dumb." she whispered, pointing in the direction of her Hunter quietly. Her voice was hoarse, almost none existent. "What?" Jake asked as he stepped in with them and walked over. The woman cast her gaze open, shifted somewhat as if to bury herself in the corner. Now she had conscious thought, she still wasn't keen on people getting close to her. The Hunter had shimmied across the room to sit on the bed and watch, intrigued and snagged up his pack, chewed on it absently.

Anfisa had watched her this time. She had been so sure that she had been hearing it in her head or something, but when she suddenly heard the voice again and saw that it had come from the Witch's lips, she was nearly spazzing. She suddenly grabbed Jake by the hand and pulled him closer to the Witch. Not too close in case she suddenly reverted back to normal. She crouched down beside the Witch and suddenly said. "Look. The color is coming back to her hair, and her eyes have started to change color as well. Not just that, she spoke! She said something. She talked to me." Anfisa suddenly had a very happy look on her face. "It has to be from when she bit me. Maybe my blood is the cure. Do you know how amazing this is? I can cure my Hunter too, I can finally have the parents that I've always dreamed of having." she said. She looked to the Hunter now before she growled and tackled him off of the bed. She did love playing with him. It was fun.

The Witch gave Jake a very unimpressed look and swiped at him when he went to touch a strand of hair. The man raised his hand and backed away a bit, left his other in the hand of the infected girl and looked over with a smile. "Now all you need to do is get beloved Daddy there to bite you**."** he grunted, grinned when she suddenly tackled the man and had him off the bed. Her Hunter yowled happily, wrapping his legs around her and pulling her close, his hands wrestling for control of her wrists. While they wrestled so, the Witch silently - and sneakily, may I add - pulled the cover off the bed and wrapped it around herself, curled up on the floor to sleep again. "What's going on back there?" Nira called and so Jake left the family to their reunion and happiness, walking up the front to explain. The Witch would not talk much, her throat was so, so sore.

So it seemed that she still had a bit of her old habits that were causing her to not let anyone get close. But still, she had spoken and let Jake get close. That was something that was so mind blowing that Anfisa was still not entirely sure as to what to do about it. She had tackled the Hunter, and had not cared when she made him yowl. She was giggling and squirming beneath the infected man, her eyes light with a passion she had not felt in a long time. She had always dreamt of curing her parents somehow. She had never thought that it would actually be possible. She bit the Hunter on the shoulder playfully before she wriggled out from beneath him and snatched up the red med pack before she vaulted herself over the bed and landed beside the Witch. She was watching the woman carefully before she leaned down and decided she would snuggle beside the watch.

Of course, with the med pack in hand the Hunter leapt over the bed at her and sunk his teeth into the red pack with a growl, tugged it free from her hands and went to hide under the bed, snarling and snapping happily. The Witch ignored him, her hair the only thing visible from under the blanket before raising her head to peer at the girl that started to snuggle down to her, wrapped part of the blanket around her then settled back down again. It seemed that the Witch didn't mind her snuggling with the woman now but the Hunter still kept away from them. He had his med pack, he was happy.

This was very good news, that now they had found a way to cure the infected. That did not mean that she was going to go around letting all the zombies that came near them have blood, but that was hardly the point. She was far more interested in the idea of curing the Hunter. She would miss the way he acted though. She doubted that he would snuggle with his med pack once he was back to being a normal human, but that was hardly the point, now was it? Anfisa slept like a baby. It would be a few hours before the interesting stuff happened. Nira had been driving for a few hours, and they were starting to get low on food supplies, so that was what they were going to stop for in the next town, and the next town was coming up.

Nira had taught herself to drive, but she was better than any of the other two would be. She'd used to watch her Dad drive. Jake only came to the back of the RV when they'd passed the town limits, wandering inside and quietly shaking her shoulder, sniper on his back "Hey, Anfie?" her nickname, he'd taken to calling her that. The Hunter growled from under the bed and Jake shifted almost fearfully, turning his front rather than his back to the beast and peered down at the infected girl. The Witch hadn't stirred from under the blanket. _Sleeps deep_ Jakobi thought quietly.

Anfisa was not the type that cared what she was called. Until just about two weeks before, she had not even had a true name. She had simply been "the girl". Now she had more of an identity. She slept deeply because she could not sleep otherwise. When you were born and raised in a city full of zombies that did nothing but scream and howl all night, you learned to sleep deeply so you could ignore it. She growled lightly in her sleep and pressed herself a bit closer to the Witch. When he tried again, Anfisa's eyes slowly opened, and she looked up at him. She was not sure what she was doing in that tiny room at first, like normal, but she began to just sit up and looked about. Oh yeah. RV. Settlement. That's where she was. She lifted herself up to her feet and asked, "Yes? We finally in town?"

"Mhm, Nira pulled in about five minutes ago. We might need to stop for juice as well as food, luckily I scoped a truck a little ways back, looks like it's got a big tank on it." he answered, standing up fully and adjusted the machete at his hip. Anfie, that was the name he called her now when he couldn't be bothered to say it properly. It was a pet name, that's what it was. The Hunter's growls subsided when he was a substantial distance from the bed. The Witch stirred only briefly, blinked at them from beneath the blanket with a pair of almost pale blue eyes.

Anfisa was standing up and gone over to the closet, opening the folding doors before she began to go through the duffle bags. She normally just used a shotgun and a katana. She had found her love in the katana. The blade had proved to be a very good weapon when going up against the infected. She grabbed the katana and a shotgun, just like normal. She then snagged an adrenaline shot, extra ammo, and a Molotov. She turned to look back at the man and said. "Is Nira going to be going with us? Or staying here?" She asked as she went over to the bed and got down onto her knees before she stuck her hands underneath, trying to get the Hunter to come out. She growled to him once before she snagged the med pack and dragged out. He's follow them now. She looked down at the Witch for a moment or so. "She should be fine on her own. She'll probably start crying once we leave, so the infected will leave her alone."

Her Hunter made a yowling noise and Jakobi instinctively took a step backwards with caution but the infected didn't look interested in him, diving for the med pack before he sat there looking incredibly unimpressed. Jake never left his weapons anywhere, he always had his kit on him so unlike Anfisa he didn't have to stop and grab what he needed. "Nira will be staying, you know I'd rather her not go sticking her head out again. Remember what happened last time? No... She's better off driving." Jakobi remarked, turning to pull the door open. Said Witch peered at her quietly, sniffed - just to be expected, she was not so far cured that she wouldn't cry when left in complete silence but the noise of the engine helped to stop the tears on long trips.

Anfisa was purring and pressed her weight against her Hunter before she gave the med pack to him. He would follow, just like normal. She checked her things one last time before she went over to the Witch and just did as she had last night, snugged her. She had rarely done that when the infected woman had been truly a Witch. Now, she felt much more comfortable doing so. "Please don't attack the woman in the other room if you hear her making noise. She's not going to hurt you." She nuzzled her cheek, then with a swift movement, she was at the window and had already climbed onto the top of the RV. She'd be able to see things from here, to see where the special infected might be hiding. That was when she smelt the human scent. It was fresh, which meant that there was a living human in the area. She growled and just moved down so that her head was peeking through the window. "Jake, we've got a human here." She had jumped down from the roof and was looking out at the surrounding area.

"You pullin' my leg or are you actually serious?" Jake asked as he stepped down from the RV and pulled the machete free from his leg and sighed all too gently. The Witch had just nodded then settled back to sleep or brood or whatever she wanted to do. He locked the door behind him and the Hunter crawled out of the window with a soft grunt, landed on the floor on all fours and silently crawled along in its cat like way, making various noises as it went. 'One, two, don't know?" he asked as he looked over at her before turning ahead again. Machete's made good weapons for slicing and dicing, though not for when dealing with a Boomer. Jakobi was still dealing with the effects of THAT Infected bastard. "Let's just hope they don't pop a shot off at your Hunter." which, given the current climate would put them in the right state. If they saw an Infected, they shot it.

Why would she be pulling his leg? That did not even make sense. Her brow furrowed. "Pull your leg? I'm not actually near you." she said, shaking her head lightly. She knew how to speak English, but she did not understand a lot of the figures of speech. She was shifting her weight from foot to foot as she hummed lightly, giving a small smile. "Of course I am serious. There is a human here. As to whether he or she is alone, I don't know. I can only smell human, not a number." she said as she started to head down the road. Whoever it was, was probably being stalked by infected. She would pause every so often and inhale deeply. First things first. They found the human first, then we went to go find the food and what not. Anfisa did not want to stay in one place too long, for that attracted infected. She was willing to fight, but she would rather not go against a horde. She was looking to her right, her eyes were open. "If they try to hurt my Hunter, I shall not be kind to them."

"It's a fig... Oh I'll explain later." Jakobi responded, shaking his head and breaking into a soft jog to keep up with her and her Hunter trolled along behind her, peeking occasionally over rooftops and the like. The humans? They'd be found in rather a.. delicate situation. For one, the older of the two was a lot more eager to shoot and run rather than talk. He had to be given the current state both he and his fellow traveler was in. Jakobi heard it, far off to his left, a door slamming and then being dead bolted. "Over here!" he said suddenly, turned and shot down the street. Not many Infected yet, not that hadn't been decapitated by his large blade.

"It's a fig? How can that be a fig? Figs are a type of fruit, Jake." Anfisa answered, rolling her eyes with a bit of a giggle. She was just moving about, looking like the angel of death. She had her shotgun over her shoulder and her katana in hand. She had not really been paying attention to what was going on with the infected. She was far more interested in the smells of the humans. "Two. I can smell two humans now that I'm getting closer to where they are." she'd heard the click of the deadbolt being secured. She growled to her Hunter. If this guy had a gun, she was not going to put the Hunter in danger. She motioned for Jakobi to stay put as well. She went over to the buildings, inspecting each one. She suddenly heard a roar and the wood of a house being smashed through. A charger had started to come toward her. Anfisa did the first thing she thought of. Her hands covered her eyes, she crouched down, and she wailed. Chargers were annoying. They picked you up and smashed you into the ground until you were dead. The beast skidded to a halt, it's black eyes wide with some strange emotion. He roared again and turned. He'd probably not spot Jake. She'd left him and the Hunter behind the building.

She had no idea just how much danger she was putting herself in by even bothering to bother the two survivors. One had a sharp wit, military training and on the other side he was fiercly protective over the person in his care. The oldest knew how to wield a gun. Jakobi looked nervous when left with the Hunter but the beast ignored him fully, lay down on the balcony of a nearby apartment building and looked like it had gone to sleep. With a charger roaming, Jake had ducked behind a heap of rotting rubbish bags that'd spilt their contents onto the pavement years ago.

Putting up with an angry military man would be a whole lot easier than taking on the charger. She hated them almost as much as she hated the jockeys. The girl had taken the shotgun from her back and was waiting, ever so silent. The charger had stopped watching her. It had not even noticed that the "witch's" cries had stopped. A witch never stopped crying unless she was attacking someone, and then she just went and gutted them while screaming. Anfisa took aim, one eye closing before she pulled the trigger. The shotgun's spread got the charger in the chest. He was dead with just that one shot. Ha. Humans were so much better than zombies. She turned back to the door where the two were hiding. She quietly beat on the door. "Hey! Come out! We're here to help you!"

"Like crap am I opening the door to a stranger." was the far off grumble, upholstering a pistol and silently moving across to the door when she banged on it. "Like hell you can help us, we can get along just fine." he growled, unlatching part of the door and slid it back so he could peer through. It seemed where they'd dead bolted themselves into was their little safe house. Of course, it was the mans safe house, not counting the other person who was with him. "Who're you?" his eyes were a darkened color, that and a strand of two of hair was the only thing visible. Clearly he was looking right at her, no messing around this man, it seemed. He could see the charger however, made a noise of disgust. "Keep banging like that'll attract half the infected for miles."

"If I had wanted in that badly, I could have just beat down the door." she said. It was true. She was not that much weaker than a tank. Had she ever told anyone that? Nope. That would just make them more nervous around her. She turned around to look at the charger and then back at the man. "Yes, and if a horde comes here, I shall easily get rid of them. I'm good at that." she knew that this guy seemed to be more careful and reserved than Jake and Nira had been. They had been open to her, sort of. She'd saved their lives, but still. She heard a small voice from inside. "Dad, let her in. She's a human, like us, why would she want to hurt us if she was like us?" the boy asked from the inside. He had come over and tugged on the man's jacket. Anfisa said. "We're heading to the settlement that's not too far away. You guys should come with us. We've even got an RV that we're traveling in. It's me, two survivors, and my parents."

"Remember what happened to the last person we let in? Didn't tell us she'd been infected, did she?" The male replied but he stepped back from the door and pulled the dead bolt open ."Go for my boy, ill shoot you." and the man had the right to do so. He was protecting his child in just the same manner that her Hunter protected her. Only her Hunter wasn't afraid of being torn to pieces by a tank or mauled by a another hunter, or perhaps even slobbed on by a smoker. He pulled back the door silently, the lights were on in there somehow and he waited somewhat impatiently to let her in. "An RV that hasn't been turned over by a tank yet? I'm rather surprised**."** he remarked, observing her quietly. "You're the first human we've seen in about... six months." He definitely seemed more easy to put on high alert, definitely less open than the other two survivors. "I've been thinking of ways to get there. Can't go far with the two of us. Something might happen to me and he'd be all alone, couldn't risk it." said the man with a calm motion to the boy who'd tugged on his jacket.

"She had not known she had been infected, Dad. She's been human enough when we let her in." The boy reminded the man quietly before he looked up to her and held his hand out. "I'm Embry." Anfisa waited for a moment or so before she took his hand. He shook it roughly before letting go and went back over onto the couch to play with the playboy that he'd left there. Anfisa watched him for second before turning to the man. "Yes, well, when you see the company that we have, you'll understand why a tank would leave us alone." She stated. She went back out to the walk way and whistled loudly. That would tell Jake and her Hunter that she'd found them. "You guys can come with us. Just pack up all the food and supplies you have. We shouldn't linger here very long." Embry paused in playing his game and looked up. "Can we go with her, Dad?"

Jakobi popped up outside the door quietly when she whistled, peered inside then turned his back to look about and make sure nothing was sneaking up on his ass. He hated it when they did that, he could hardly hear them sometimes. He was obviously a soldier, the camouflaged trousers and shirt gave that away. He wasn't tucked in, nor neat but he looked clean shaven with his hair just long enough to make him look family orientated. His boots had long since lost their shine and the tags bouncing around his neck displayed _HARDING, JOSHUA C._ as the name. Josh observed her silently, his gaze was hard before he inhaled heavily and exhaled just as much. "Fine, go grab your bag quick." he responded, looking over to where his son was playing, turned away from her - seemingly reluctantly - and silently folded all the weapons he had into a neat duffel and swung it onto his back, arm through each loop before reaching down and picking up a military grade rifle. Clean, it was kept but it was in a worn condition. Hell, what did they have to lose? He had enough ammo to make sure Embry kept safe, that was all that mattered. Did the ideal of going appeal to him? Hmmm somewhat it did

Embry was smiling widely as he disappeared into a different part of the apartment. He'd get their food. No doubt they had quite a bit of it. She was watching the boy as he zipped about. His bag was always packed, just in case they had to move for some reason. When he came back in, he dropped the back to his father's feet and disappeared again. He seemed so eager to get out of the apartment and see what the outside world had looked like. Anfisa was watching the man carefully for a moment or so. He was a soldier. That didn't bother her at all. She had never seen a military man, so she had no idea what they were supposedly like. When Embry came back, he was carrying a heavy bag. Anfisa had been so close to grabbing it for him when she suddenly heard a much more disturbing sound. A horde. Great. She took the bag and went over and handed it to Jakobi. "Make sure they get back to the RV, and keep them out of the back room where... she is." She said before she went over to the railing and looked down. Yep. A horde was starting to climb it's way up. Embry and Josh were about to see that she wasn't human. She got up onto the railing, balancing her entire way on the middle of her feet and her hands were gripping the iron rails. She looked down at the infected, and that was when her mouth opened. The scream that tore out of her throat was definitely not human. She screamed and just jumped down from that height. The fall would not hurt, nor would it injure her.

Jakobi grabbed the bag and before Josh could pop a shot at the Hunter it'd zipped over and jumped off after her. "Thing follows her, move it." Jake said suddenly, pointed back down the direction they'd come. "Main road, grab your shit and go." of course, the man wouldn't leave his son behind and - as Jakobi expected - made sure to keep the boy in front of him. Anfisa would learn eventually, military men were not nice men, many of them needed much tender loving care, some of them were even better off sitting in a dark room for the rest of their lives, but now they had a horde on their ass and the chance of rescue. Jake just ran along behind them, ignored the curious look that Josh gave him in response to the inhuman scream. "Ignore it, Ill explain whenever." he said, almost kicked the older up the ass to get him to move quicker. Nira never opened the RV doors till they were close, though. The Witch was still in her room, still crying softly but none of them in their right mind would enter without the woman's daughter present. Cured or not she was still dangerous.

She would learn that military men were dangerous if they were insulted and what not, but Josh would also learn that Anfisa was dangerous. She had the traits of both her parents, which made her incredibly dangerous if she ever became a feral infected. She would be more dangerous than the hunter and witch, and that was saying something. She was sitting on top of the old store in town. It had plenty of food, so she would fill up the extra bag that she'd brought with her before she headed back to the RV. She would probably be threatened to be shot by Josh when she came back. Obviously, he knew that she wasn't human now. The girl dispatched the horde by throwing the Molotov, looking a bit happy when she saw the flames go up and the various infected scattered, screaming while they burned. She jumped down from her perch and went inside the trashed store, stuffing her bag. She would come in through the back window, her Hunter behind her, about ten minutes after they had gotten to the safety of the RV. She was putting her weapons down before she opened the door to the bedroom. She growled once to the Hunter, warning him to stay put. She came in and closed the door, lifting her head to see Embry staring at her. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen! What are you?" Anfisa could not help but wince.

Of course, military men - including Josh - had certain things that riled them and things that bounced right off again. Thick skinned, they were. He'd been in since he was seventeen, he was pushing late twenties now. He stood when she appeared, the unease present on his face. Nira - oblivious - just pulled away again, squashed an Infected happily under tire. "Embry, I don't think that's appropriate." scolded his father, his brows furrowing but his hand was resting at his hip, his gun. Jakobi was watching her with an air of distrust, eyes focused solely on the hand that gripped the Browning 9mm tightly enough to send the knuckles white. No, he knew now, he knew she wasn't human and that didn't swing well with him.

Embry scoffed lightly before he went over to the bloodied girl and bounced in place, his blue eyes were wide with excitement. Anfisa backed away slightly before she said. "No. I'm human, sort of. My father is a Hunter and my mother is a Witch. A Witch that is in the middle of reverting back to normal, might I say?" she was watching the man carefully, her eyes were trained on that gun that he was holding. He was going to shoot her when she least expected it. She just knew that he would. She was backing away slightly before she said, "Jake and Nira have been traveling with me for two weeks, so if I was going to kill them, I would have done it before now. I swear, I'm no danger to you and your son. " Embry just looked like he had seen an angel. "Cool! What's it like having a Witch for a mother? I bet it's really weird." Anfisa shrugged. "It's okay."

Josh made a move but Jake's hand dropped to his wrist. "Don't do anything stupid, you startle the girl back there, cured or not she'll get pretty pissed. She hasn't got any claws no more, but she can still pack a hell of a thump." he remarked calmly, jerking his thumb towards the door that separated the bedroom to the main part of the RV. "Perhaps I better hold that for ya'll**."** Jake remarked absently, hand slipping around the back of the soldier's waist and slowly removing the gun, snuck it behind his own waist and tucked it in his belt. Josh did nothing but tense and untense his fists rhythmically, sat down slowly and watched his son the way any father would. He loved his son, he'd do anything to protect him.

Pissing off the Witch was a bad idea. She had started talking, and her hair and eyes were starting to go back to normal, but she was still a bit unstable it seemed. At least she had not hurt Nira or had started wailing as soon as they were gone. She gave a slight growl when Josh started to grab at his gun. He was protective of his son, she could understand that, but she was not going to let him kill her. If she died, her parents would go back to how they had been, she was pretty sure about that. She was crouched down, snarling at Josh. Thank the good lord that Jake had interdicted before things had become nasty. She straightened up some after a second or so. He was making her jumpy, and a jumpy infected human was not a good idea. She hissed once then disappeared around the door. It would not be long before they heard a thumping noise. She was playing with her Hunter again. She grabbed the med kit and began to just play "keep away". At one point she had hidden behind the Witch.

They were making each other jumpy, definitely not a good mixture. He just sat down and stared out of the window in silence, his jaw flexing before he did what any good soldier did before combat and fell asleep on the table, forehead resting against his arm with a soft sigh. "I can see them having a love-hate relationship." remarked Nira when Jakobi went and sat down in the chair next to her. "You aint kiddin', gonna be as jumpy as a virgin in a whore house**."** Jake grumbled. Of course the Hunter didn't care who got in the way so of course he'd immediately leapt upon the Witch to grasp fitfully at the med pack. The woman howled. "Gabriel, get off me this INSTANT!" she flailed, shoving the Infected off with the strength of any Witch. The Hunter sprawled for a second, then began to whimper and quietly crawled forwards in the way he did if he wanted to apologize. He did it to Anfisa often.

He was making her jumpy by threatening to shoot her, and she was making him jumpy by not being entirely human. It was just the circle of life at it's best. The young girl didn't have a reaction when she heard the Witch growl and shove the Hunter off of her. Anfisa was purring and nuzzled the Witch slightly. "You're throat must be feeling better." she said as she got up. It was time she did the same thing to the Hunter. It would probably take him longer, but she wanted both of her parents cured. She wanted them to be human again. They'd likely still have their awesome powers of jumping and being fast and what not. Anfisa tossed the med pack back into his face and went over to the small table. She snagged up the knife that she kept there and ran it over the palm of her hand. She winced lightly. That hurt quite a bit. She waited until enough blood had welled up, then she had tackled the Hunter and squeezed her hand tightly over his move, so that the blood would drip down his throat. He would not need a lot of it, just enough to make it so he would start to change back, like the Witch. Embry was kicking his legs quietly. "It's gunna be a long trip, I bet." the boy picked up his playboy, flicked it on, and went back to playing.

"Somewhat, the girl up there got me a drink." she said, flapping her hand towards the door with a growl then settled back again. Nira had dared go near the Witch? For the greater good really. Of course her Hunter snarled and strained to get away, clawed hands coming to grip tightly at her upper arms but with her holding him so tightly he couldn't put up much of a fight, dark eyes glaring at her angrily from under his hood. He liked playing, but this was just damn well restraining! "Yeah, you ent kiddin'." Jake responded, sitting down in silence and pulled the book from his pack before peering at the boy. "Any idea why your Dad seems such a killjoy**?"** he asked. "Jake!" Nira scolded. "It's a natural enough question, I know, I mean I nearly killed Anfie but I never reached for my gun like that**." **Yeah. It was going to be a long trip.


	5. Chapter 5

_Now I give you chapter 5. Did I not tell you guys that it would be done and up soon? Well! I was right. The Flea and I shall start on chapter 6 and possibly even chapter 7 tomorrow. This part of Anfisa is already mostly over and it makes me sad. _

_Now! I this is a bit early to be asking this, but the Flea and I have been having a lot of issues over the whole romance issue: Who will Anfisa end up with? We don't know! We're the authors of this fan fiction and we doesn't even know. It's a bit depressing._

_This is then where I go and ask you guys to leave me a message about it or vote on the poll I just added! More information about the new oc will come later as he has not yet been revealed until a much later chapter. _

_Enjoy this filler chapter while we work on the new ones!_

_~SanctusEspiritus37_

Josh was still jumpy. That was natural. Traveling with two undead creatures in the back room made anyone jumpy. He'd stopped trying to draw his gun on Anfisa though, that was a good thing. Now he absently smacked himself in the back of the head then proceeded to scratch the same place, grumbling. Jake was how he always was - scruffy. He stood by the window, the RV's movements making him gently sway from side to side and around his fingers he flicked a large knife, turned to start sharpening it again and huffed to himself. Three days since they'd stopped and they were nearly out of fuel, seemed they'd need to stop soon to drain another tanker if they found one. Nira kept driving, but sometimes Josh took over to give her a break, the woman couldn't go forever. The Witch had started to speak more and more, she still confined herself to the back bedroom and was caring for the Hunter, who, three days ago, had curled up under the bed and refused to come out even when tempted with med packs and food. He stayed there, shaking, whining. The Witch did her best to comfort him.

The Witch had come to the point where she could be by the survivors and not attack them. It had taken the Witch about two weeks to change back to this point, but the way that her Hunter was acting, Anfisa could tell that he was close to changing back soon on his own. The infected girl was sitting perched on the kitchen counter, her head cocked to the side as she watched the trees buzz by out the window. She was truly entertained by the most simple things. Embry liked her. That was known from the very beginning. He would just randomly go up to the woman and talk with her for hours. Her body was that of a seventeen year old young woman, and yet her mind was sometimes only about nine years old. She had only just come into contact with living humans not too long ago._ Three weeks today. _She thought to herself before she glanced over at Josh. She was glad that he had stopped trying to kill her. She jumped down from the counter and made her way into the back room, purring and sitting beside the Witch. The color of her skin, eyes, and hair had come back. She was more human again than zombie. Anfisa sniffed. "How is he?"

Nope, Josh' last confrontation with her had been about, what? Four, five days ago? Even then it'd only been because the Witch had come up behind him and he hadn't heard her. He was tetchy, he was a soldier. If he didn't like it, he killed it. Nira glanced over her shoulder when Anfie moved but said nothing and looked ahead into the rain, sighed. It seemed that the because the Witch didn't move unless startled, the blood took longer to take affect rather than the Hunter's always-moving-hyperactive-tendencies. Jake moved when she did, looked over to her before he turned away and carried on sharpening the knives that they had with them, normally to the point it took no less than a slight twist to burst skin. "He's a lot quieter than normal. Had a very restless night." the Witch replied, looking over at her daughter and pulled the blankets up from the side of the bed and angled a light inside only slightly. The Hunter had his back to them, his arms curled up above his head with his knees to his chest. He wasn't shaking, nor whining, so that was a bonus. The Witch had a rather calm temperament, she could go by survivors and be startled without going ape shit on someone's ass. She couldn't remember much about family life though, she knew her name, she knew the Hunter. She knew nothing else bar the fact she had a sister and two brothers. It would take a while for her memories to return.

It seemed that the Witch was still just as deadly as she had been before, but she was human now. That was what seemed to make Anfisa so happy. She nodded to the infected woman before she began to crawl beneath the bed and sniff lightly at the Hunter's hoodie. She was going to miss him as her Hunter, but truth be told, she wanted him to be human so that he was no constantly shot at by other survivors. "I think it should be over for him soon.' Anfisa said gently as she nuzzled his back once and began to crawl out from beneath the bed and looked back at the Witch. "I'll bring you something to eat." she said as she went back out to the main living area of the RV. She looked around before she said. "Nira. You guys should stop driving for awhile. It's been quite a long time since we've ever taken a break. All of us." she said, going over to the window and opening it. She had a knife on her thigh. That was all she would need.

Her Hunter made a pitiful noise but he didn't move until the blanket was put down and he was left in his dark confines. "I hope. He always had a high pain tolerance but changing back is painful, no matter how long you suffer with it." The Witch replied as she looked over and let her daughter lave. Nira looked about, nodded. "I'll pull us in the gas station, we can get some fuel there. Josh, Jake, you wanna do the honors?" she asked. Jake sheathed the machete and hopped out when the RV stopped.

She did feel bad for him. She truly did. She just thought that he would be much happier when he actually had thoughts that were about other things other than just collecting med kits and killing humans. Poor guy. Well, her Hunter was not far from reverting back to his humanity, so she would not be surprised if he was talking by the time she came back. However, one of the things that she truly wanted to know was whether or not they actually knew that she was their daughter. Probably not. Anfisa waited till the RV had been stopped and muttered. "Weapons are in the back if ya need them." she just leapt out of the window and disappeared into the darkness of the forest around them. Embry had gotten up and was clutching his father's pant leg. "Can I help?" he asked.

Maybe... Maybe they would know. The Witch certainly seemed to know but would her Hunter? Her father. He would be up and talking by the time she got back, but he would not move an inch from his Witch's side. Josh looked down at his son, looked him over and somewhat narrowed his eyes. Jakobi scooped up his typical sniper and the machete in its sheath on his leg. "You don't move an inch from me, understand? Go grab your jacket**."** the soldier relented. Embry would have to go through this one day, he might as well start training the boy now. He was old enough. Josh snagged up a blade, long and thin and sheathed it across his back and picked up his rifle, loaded and cocked it.

If they knew, it would be awfully awkward. The Witch seemed to know in a way that the girl was connected to the two of them, but would the Hunter understand? He had always been there with her, running along side as she jumped from roof to roof. These thoughts were buzzing around inside of her head as she kicked away one of the zombies. She at once screamed. Jake and Nira knew her scream by then, which meant that they would know that there was a horde nearby. If they had warning, then they would be able to protect themselves easier. Embry nodded his head, his sandy hair bobbed with his head. He turned around and ran to the table, snatching up his coat and shrugging it on as he followed after his father. "Let's go kill all the bas-" he did not finish. He knew how much his father hated it when he cussed.

"We move. We move quick and we move fast." Jake said as he turned to look at the soldier. His gaze was hard and Josh nodded. The second his son started to curse the response was a swift but none painful slap to the back of the head. That was as good a deterrent as he had. "Nira, lock the windows, lock the doors." Jake called as he walked through to the kitchen to do so. He could hear the Witch rousing from the bedroom, the Hunter most probably with her. "Nira, we'll be five minutes, if we're not then lock the door. Anfisa can get in through the skylight." Jakobi said, bounding down the steps and raising the katana in front of him, Josh right behind him with machete in hand. Little Embry would have to stay between the two men. Nira could fight off a hoard providing she had the safety of the RV, she'd done it before and with surprising quickness

"Ow!" the boy protested when he was smacked in the back of the head. He whimpered once and rubbed his head. "I didn't mean to cuss! Dad!" he whined when he heard what Jake said. He'd heard the scream from Anfisa, but he had not been entirely sure of what had made the scream. Embry picked up the pace a little bit, eager to stay between the two men just in case they were attacked. Anfisa looked back, the RV had all but disappeared. She did not have long before they would begin to leave. She turned her head and threw herself into the brawl. The infected were hell bent on killing her. She was alien. Not like them. She smelled like them, but she was so different. She acted like a human being did. They were going crazy over it. Anfisa lifted her head and saw a branch that was not all that far above her. She glanced around once. She bunched down and just sprung like a spring, her hand shooting out and grabbing the tree branch.

Jakobi knew she could take care of herself, in any case they were not that far away and if she needed the help she only had to holler for him. He'd still be able to hear her. One hand clutched the katana, in the other was a fuel can and a long sleeve of translucent piping. Josh looked down at him "Perhaps you'll think twice next time." he answered, glimpsing the brawl through the tree's but he ducked out of view and thanked his lucky stars he had the camo gear on that he did. "Keep your eyes peeled." he growled. Jake glanced over his shoulder. "Just stay alert." the guy replied, making a beeline towards a large truck in the distance with surprising speed. Anfisa would be safe from everything but another Hunter or a Smoker depending if they wanted to get her. She was far enough from the RV that Nira couldn't see the brawl but either way, she knew it was happening. The men were there for Anfie if she needed the backup, all she needed to do was lure the infected towards the truck.

Anfisa was very good at taking care of herself. She would not have lived for over seventeen years in a city full of infected. It had been just her and her parents, but now it was different. She had other people to rely on. The girl had poised herself up onto the branch that she had grabbed, and she began to take aim and shoot. She had not a single idea of what was about to happen. She suddenly heard a yowl and something rammed into the tree below her. She dropped her firearm, looked down, and there she saw the charger that kept ramming against the tree, determined to get his beefy hand around her waist. She scrambled backwards, trying to escape. The branch began to splinter and break. She ventured out a single later. She began to leap to the next branch. She felt something grasp her, swing her against the tree. Her vision blacked out and her head exploded with pain. Her hair was matted with blood. The charger gripped her tightly and began to slam her into the ground. She screamed.

The scream could hardly go unnoticed by people who were less than fifty foot from her, no matter if it were through trees or not. Jake dropped the can by the truck in silence, looked over instantly then to Josh. "Go see to her!" he snapped, sliding over his sword and Josh snagged it up quietly, looked to Embry. "Stay with him." he instructed, turned and darted off between the trees. He could easily find where the scream originated from and when he did all he could do was keep himself safe and go at said charger to get it to let her go before it just became far too late

It felt as if her head was going to explode. Why was it that the infected had suddenly taken such a strange liking to her? It had been so unexpected. Perhaps it was just those zombies in the city that she had been born in? It was possible. The girl was lifted into the air and slammed back down onto the ground. Her screams were choked off of, her vision began to dim off as her body was slammed back down into the rigid ground. The man did not have a weapon that could take out a charger, no? Anfisa was lifted and slammed down again and again, her mind was swirling as it was, her head feeling like the tension inside was going to make it explode. She finally just fell limp. The charger released her and charged out of sight. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Embry was standing behind Jake, his eyes wide.

Josh hated chargers. He hated jockeys too. Simply because chargers were tricky and jockeys humped heads. The moment the charger vanished the Soldier turned tail over to her. You didn't need qualifications to know that it wasn't safe to stay around, what could he do? He had no idea if she'd broken her spine and if she had then moving her would be more than a little dangerous. It may have been just her town, she was known, her parents were known in fact the Smoker that hung very close to the house seemed to have been almost friendly with her if infected COULD be friendly. It was fair to say the situation was delicate, risk not moving her and get attacked be a group or risk moving her and damage her even more. Embry was kept behind the other until the fuel can was full, leaving the tubing behind and silently capping it up before glancing to the kid. "Keep to my back, be my shadow. I'll leave you at the RV, alright, I need to go help your dad."

Who knew. She certainly did not. Her spine was not broken. She would have known if her spine was broken, and she had not felt anything with that. She was just completely out of it. Her vision was black. She was conscious, which was a good thing. Her sight was just blank. Alright. She could deal with being a little bit blind for awhile. She rolled onto her front, her hands shot out to brace herself as her frame trembled. She ached everywhere. It had not killed her, but it had done enough damage that it hurt to move. She felt her sides heave with the effort of breathing. She heard someone coming. She could not see. This was not going well for her. She could not see and could not discern who it was. She crawled forward, her hand moving out in front of her to probe for a tree. If she found the tree, she could pull herself up. "Jake?" she called loudly, her eyes focusing on the ground, or they would have been, if she could have seen what was in front of her.

"With Embry, it's just me." Josh replied as he knelt down - sword in one hand and the other bare as he took her own. "I'm here, I'm here but now we need to get you back to the RV." It was good he'd come across her moving, it made it clear she was still able to and that her spine hadn't been broken, he couldn't immediately see her blindness and probably wouldn't register it until he got her back. "Tell me, quick, do you need to a hand with getting back**?"** he said as he watched her, kneeling slightly to wrap an arm around her and help her up. The fact that she wanted Jake didn't particularly bother him all that much aside from that niggling in the back of his head. "Not yet, he's got Embry."

Josh. Why would Jake have sent the man after her? They both knew well that Josh did not trust her. He thought that she was the devil's spawn, which in a way, she could understand. She was the only child from two infected, so perhaps many could call her a demon child. Anfisa picked herself up and shied away from his touch lightly. "I can make it back on my own." How could she do that while being blind? Easy. She had caught Nira's scent. She was still a "zombie" after all. She held her head, her hand clamping over the bloody wound. She'd been smashed into the ground several times. It was truly a wonder that her skull had not been shattered. She picked her way through the thick trees, picking up her discarded firearm and tried not to bump into anything. She soon found the RV and began to feel for the door, her breath picked up a bit.

Because like it or not they were stuck together and Josh needed to learn that. Jake knew the soldier would do nothing that would jeopardize the relationship he held with his son. Jake could use Embry as an... incentive, for the brunette to get along with Anfie and in doing so make everything have a very relaxed atmosphere. Josh did not stay that too far behind her, bracing the katana in one hand. The door was tugged open and a hand gripped her wrist, a male hand, a rough hand but not Josh's, this one was larger than the other mans and more action sure. "You're walking?" Jakobi hadn't been expecting that, helping her into the RV and moving her silently while Josh climbed in behind her and slammed the door closed. "Drive." he said simply. They had the fuel, Jake had made sure Embry got back without a scratch and they hadn't suffered any casualties by the looks of it. Jake turned to her, said heavy hands falling almost gently on her shoulders and looking her over. "Where are you hurt?" of course, he'd heard the screams but he knew not that the fucker to have attacked her had been a charger.

"I can walk." The young woman said, shifting herself as she turned her head to the side. She was going to be fine. Well, she would when she found out how to take care of the oozing wound on the back of her head and the bout of blindness that she was still suffering from. Embry had jumped down from the seat that he had been sitting on and ran over to his father. He threw his arms around the older man's waist and grumbled something under his breath before he said. "I think I'll stay here with Nira from now on, Dad. Every time Jake killed one of those zombies, it made me think of Mom." his voice suddenly broke, and he looked down at the floor. His father had been forced to kill the woman, in front of the boy. He just tried to force back the tears. Anfisa stumbled forward, making her way around the RV as she tried to get into the back hurt. "The back of my head and oozing blood." she said as she quietly opened the door and slipped inside. Her foot snagged on a loose weapon, and she went forward. She squealed.

Jake watched her go, frowned and stood up, followed and when she squealed he bounded after her and leant down and scooped her up. Of course he'd not moved fast enugh to grab her, he was only human and nothing at all like her superhuman father. Jake leant down and picked her up carefully, like a child and took her into said back room and grabbed up on of the many piled med kits. "Stay right where you are." he instructed. The Witch hadn't woken from the noise, her arm had rolled from under the bed but he guessed she was asleep and so was the Hunter. He turned quietly. "Lean your head forwards, so I can see the wound**."** he said, fingertips of one hand at her temple, the other holding the med kit and put on a nearby table, tugged it open. Josh looked down at his son quietly, both hands gently setting on his shoulder before he knelt down and wrapped his arms around his son and hugged him close. "You stay if you want, no one will ever force you to leave this place, do you understand?" he leant back, observed the boy. "Your mother loved you, she did and if she could see how much you've grown, she'd be so proud because I know I am." Embry was the only thing Josh had that was worth fighting for, anymore. The only thing.

Embry was a very special thing. He was a child. There were not many children left. He was the next generation, which meant that human kind still had a hope of living on after all of the infected died off. At least, that was the hope. Anfisa was trembling, her eyes still vacant of sight. She hated not being able to see. It made her feel weakened. She pushed herself up into a sit and dipped her head, showing him her wound. It wasn't really all that bad. It was just bloody from the small cuts she had on her scalp. The one thing she was grateful for? She didn't have a concussion. At least, she did not think so. She gave a long sigh and just said. "Jake. The wound on the back of my head is not the biggest issue I have. I can't see." her breathing started to pick up now. She was feeling a panic start to set over her. She couldn't see. She could not longer see the world around her. She was blind. Anfisa gripped her arms tightly, whimpering softly. The Witch and Hunter would not stay asleep forever, and when they did wake up, there had to be a shared fear that they would not attack Jake.

There was still the hope and Josh would be damned if he let something harm his son. He'd sooner die. Jakobi had been quietly seeing to the small cuts on her scalp, head wounds always had seemed worse than they appeared but still, the blood was a worrying sight and they hardly wanted Nira passing out at the wheel at the sight of her. "What do you mean you can't see, you mean, at all?" he stopped tending to her head abruptly, the air bending around him and kneeling down in front of her, fingertips at her cheek. "Calm down. Calm down. You had a very bad knock to the head, sometimes blindness can stem from that, it'll be temporary…" at least, that was what he wanted her to believe but he personally had no clue. The growling told him the Hunter was starting to rouse and he shifted his back towards the wall lightly but never moved from Anfie and the Witch crawled from under the bed with a sniffle. It seemed that bother her parents were finished with their sleeping and the Hunter was making more than normal noises. If they went for Jake, if the Hunter went for Jake, there'd be nothing he could do that didn't involve killing the thing - which he knew was not an option

"I can't see anything. I can't see you, the bed, the walls, the Witch, or anything! I'm blind!" she was trying not to panic too badly, but she had to face the reality that her eyesight might not come back. It was not uncommon to lose sight if the head went under some sort of stress. She was shaking, her fingernails dug into her skin and she began to lift up her head some, trying to discern what direction Jake was in. The growling did not really get to her all that much at first. She was used to hearing the Hunter growl. She was just hoping that he was cured enough not to go after Jake. She was trying to ignore the pounding sensation in the back of her head, and the lack of vision. It wasn't working all that well. Her breathing halted, and she crawled off of the bed clumsily, her hands reaching out to see if she could find the Witch. Now that the woman was no longer as infected as she had been, she felt more comfortable being close to her. Her hand found her ankle, and she just scooted up beside her mother and laid down, whimpering softly. "I'm blind."


	6. Embry and Fawn  Bonus Chapter

_This is basically just a bonus chapter to help tide you people over until chapter six and seven are done. Don't ask when that will be. I truly don't know. _

_Anyhow, the point of this bonus chapter is a bit of a glimpse into why Embry would be so open to Anfisa. I don't know about you guys, but I noticed that he trusted her a bit too much, to easily. That's why I wrote this chapter. The Flea was in bed at the time, so it is only I writing this one. That is also why it's in normal format._

_Sorry it's so short, but what can ya do?_

_Enjoy!_

_~SanctusEspiritus37_

Life was always full of disappointments, so Embry was not surprised when the man that he called his father began to yell and scream about the dangers of going outside. The boy furrowed his brow, pressed his hands to his knees, and he simply glared at the floor. He was tired of the lectures and he was just wanting to escape for a little while. However, how did you do that when the entire planet had been hit with a pandemic that had ended up turning most of the world's populations into zombies. You couldn't.

Embry just turned his head up and glared up at his father. "I hate you!"

Joshua looked a bit startled and bit back his words. He reached out to his son just as the boy ran off into the depths of the apartment.

"Great." he muttered and grabbed hold of the beer bottle he'd been drinking from before his boy had made him get all overprotective. He slumped his shoulders as he fell against the couch and just listened to the pelting of the rain against the tin roof.

Embry dropped himself down against his bed and glared up at the ceiling, tears stinging at his eyes. He understood why his father was so scared for him. He understood it, but that did not mean that he had to like it. After all, his mother had been bitten and had almost bit off both of their heads. There was not much that his father cared about, not even himself, more than his son.

Embry had just started to doze off when he heard the sound of a wail outside his window. Of course he dismissed the sound as another one of the beasts that used to be normal living people. The infected made all sorts of strange noises, so a wail was not that out of place. Well, it was when it suddenly started coming from inside the room itself. Embry at once pushed himself up and he looked around the room. Nothing. There was no witch or any other kind of infected waiting for him. It was simply his imagination, or so he thought when he spotted a girl sitting in the corner, crying.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked.

The girl only cried more when he spoke. However, as he moved closer to see if she was wounded, her cries ceased and she stood, watching him with a look of pure hatred. It was a look that was marred by insanity and perhaps even hunger. She was wearing a tattered old yellow sundress and her long black hair was matted and wet.

"A-a-are you okay?"

This time, he was lunged at. The girl shoved him down into the carpet and her sharp nails began to dig into his skin. The expression on her face changed into one of joy. She seemed to be sadistic, but she was not infected. While she was pale, she still had a bit of color in her cheeks. She had no boils and her eyes still held intelligence. She leaned down and sniffed at a bead of sweat that was rolling down his cheek. She grinned and licked at the bit of salty liquid.

"At least you didn't shoot at me."

Embry's eyes widened. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can. What did you take me for, one of those mindless beasts outside? I'm just like you. At least I sort of was. I more or less one of them…" the girl muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" Embry asked as the girl backed away, letting him sit up.

"I'm an infected. But I'm not. It's a long story. I think. All I know is that my father is human still, but my mother became infected when she was pregnant with me. Since then, I've been one of them, but at the same time I was also human. I'm a hybrid." The girl hummed, stepping lightly over the carpet as she looked through the books on the shelf.

"Wow. That's really cool. What can you do? I know of all sorts of things that the zombies can do. Do you have any cool powers or something like that?" Embry asked eagerly.

"Powers? Sure, I guess. I can turn invisible." she smirked at the interest in his eyes. He was such a simple minded being, wasn't he? Well, he was but a child.

"That is _so _cool! Can you show me?"

The girl's brow raised before she shrugged and suddenly she was no longer standing there in front of him. It was true. The girl could turn invisible if she was truly trying. Now that was a pretty cool power. Why could the zombies do cool things like that? They were all gross or unimpressive things that the other zombies did. Like the spitters did nothing by spit acid at you or the boomers vomited their nasty green crap all over you. Nasty.

"See. It's that simple." the girl smiled sweetly to Embry as her form flickered back into view.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Fawn."

"You name is Fawn? Isn't that a bit of a strange name?"

"Not in my mind. Anyhow, what's your name, Boy?"

"Embry."

"Nice. I like it. It sorta sounds like Ember, and I really like that name." Fawn smiled, reached out to brush some hair out of the boy's eyes.

"Thanks. I guess."

_Over the course of several weeks, Embry and his father moved from place to place. In doing so, they kept moving north. Fawn was never far behind, however. Joshua did not know it, but the girl was following them and was watching after Embry whenever the man had to leave the boy alone. She always sat with him and the two stayed up in the twilight hours talking about their days._

_Fawn always spun wild tales of her daily adventures. Most of which, Embry was sure were not true. How in the world could such a little girl defeat a tank all on her own without having any help at all? It was humanly possible. But then again, the girl was hardly completely human. She was able to turn invisible on her own. Perhaps that was a way that she was able to kill the tank without getting squashed._

_Fawn and Embry's relationship blossomed. They began the closest of friends and it was always a bittersweet moment when Joshua came walking through the door, making the dark haired girl disappear for another good long few hours._

"Dad, my feet hurt. Can we take a break?"

"No. We have to keep moving." Joshua growled.

They were making their way through a small village. The people still lived in it, but they were not sitting in their houses and glaring at father and son. No. The crowd was gathered around a stake and there was a priest in front of it. Tied to the stake was Fawn, her eyes wide and full of terror.

The young girl was no more than ten years old, and yet she was standing on pile of wood. A cross had been erected in the middle of it and her hands were tied to it. She could not get free. It did not matter what she tried. Nothing worked. She tugged and she tugged. Her wild black hair was flying everywhere in the rough wind. It blew at her. She wore a simple white dress. It looked more like a nightgown than anything else. The priest stood in front of her, his arms outstretched.

"Bless this cursed soul, Oh God. Make her repent of her sins and let her not be cast into the lake of fire. Free her soul of the wicked spirit that compels her to use witchcraft. Shall this sacred flame burn away the evil demon within her body. May her soul fly up and reside with you and your angelic host for the rest of eternity."

The girl was staring at her friend, her eyes were wide and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She could see him. She screamed his name and she thrashed against the bounds the held her. She was screaming, begging for him to save her and break her free. "Don't do this to me! Please don't do this! Help me! Someone help me!"

The girl sobbed and she tried to fight more.

A man was bringing forward a torch. The girl stared at it for a few seconds before she continued to thrash and her screams only got more desperate. She only wanted someone to save her. The torch was tossed onto the wood pile and the townsfolk bowed their heads and began to pray. The girl bit back her screams and stared as the flames began to crawl towards her. She lifted her head and she stared at the father. He had done this to her! He was to blame! Why? Why had he done this to her? The flames danced up her dress now, beginning to burn at her flesh. Her screams died down and she suddenly shouted. "Damn this town! I condemn you all to the lowest pits of hell! I will return and every single last one of you will pay for what you've done. I curse this town, it's people. I cursed you all. Most of all, I curse you, Father! I curse you for what you've done. I will come back and I will exact my revenge against you! "

Within just a few seconds, the flames overwhelmed and the girl burnt to death sobbing out her dear friend's name.

Joshua turned his head and looked down at his son, his brow raised. "Did you know her? She was screaming your name."

"No. I didn't know her."

Embry could swear that he heard a faint scream on the wind as he and his father moved on from that village, seeking their next place of solace. Within just a few days, he was going to meet another girl like her.


	7. Chapter 6

_Teheeeeeee, we had to be evil. We just HAD to be evil this time. I must admit that I love how this chapter turned out and it really seemed to pull everyone together in the RV but then... Hmmm... You'll have to read to find out. _

_Now listen up, I'm feeling rather absent tonight but Ill do this anyway with as much concentration as I can muster. I do love how the characters pull together this one, it is so cutely odd but every thing should smooth out the next , my random half-concentrated paragraph is over but you best get reading and PLEASE review if you enjoy __:D_

_- Armani_

Josh was leaning against the door having barricaded it quietly and was leaning against it, staring in silence at the window with the machete lightly balanced on his knee, thick and serrated from where he'd repeatedly sharpened it. Gaze flicking over at her quietly when Nira appeared to head down the front and start driving again, Jake pushed himself from his chair and set his water bottle to one side and walked into the back, pausing briefly to knock on the door. "Anfisa? Anfi? How're you doing?" he said gently as he stepped into the room and ignored the Hunters obvious growl under the bed before he twitched and adjusted his jacket in the slight chill in the air. The whole RV was dark, the windows had been boarded up to avoid Infected from viewing fresh meat on a buffet. Stretching patiently, he watched, and waited. He knew her sight was starting to return he just didn't know how good it was yet. The Hunter himself was blind, but he still had eyes so when he turned back human he would most likely be able to see.

"I'm fine." she stated calmly and shifted her weight. Her sight had started to come back in her right eye. That was a good thing. Whatever had "broken" when the charger had hit her head on that hard root, it was not completely healed. There was a good chance that she would never be able to see out of her left eye. It was not that big of a sacrifice in her mind though. She was soon going to be able to see again in one eye and she still had her crazy sense of smell to get her around. Now though, it was just a waiting game. Embry was sitting on the bench and he continued to play his DS and paused only long enough to glance up at his father. "Dad? You should sleep. You look like you've been run over by a tank."

"Good." Jakobi said as he stepped into the room and lookedover at her with his hand curling through his hair. She wasn't telling him about the blindness in her left eye so he wasn't exactly able to tell by reading her mind. The man grunted quietly as he settled himself down onto the bed and pulled his legs up when the Hunter moodily swiped at the back of his legs. The Witch sniffed softly from her corner in silence but she didn't stir much. "Your father's in a bad mood." When was he when it came to these days? It was a waiting game and unfortunately Jakobi was impatient as hell. Josh raised his head so that his chin no longer rested on his chest and looked at his son quietly. "So do you when you've just gotten out of bed**."** he grunted light heartidly. "I second the boy, Josh. You look awful, get some sleep or you'll make yourself ill." Josh let his machete tap on the floor before he pushed himself to stand and swayed before quietly moving towards one of the couches adorning the walls. "Fine, ill get some sleep."

"I know that my dad is in a bad mood. But if you think about it, when is he not in a bad mood?" the boy said, glancing up from his video game. He just wanted his father to be well. Besides, if Josh decided to be a pain about it, Embry could simply tell the man that he could protect nobody if he didn't sleep. Embry began to swing his feet and his attention was taken back to what he was doing and he began to hum, a brief smile on his face. Anfisa was crawling around the back room, pleased with the progress her mother had made in the short few weeks that they had been on the road. It would not be long before all signs of her once being a Witch would be gone. Anfisa crawled up to the woman and pressed her face against her cheek before her blind eyes blinked. "How is the Hunter doing?"

"That is very true." Nira mused when Jake pulled off his jacket when he got too warm. Josh simply grunted when he leaned back before he dropped his head on his "pillow". "Kid, if you ever want anything nice again you be nice to your old man." he grunted sleepily before he fell asleep. The Witch didn't complain when she came and pressed against her smaller mother, hugged her quietly mindful of long nails and smiled patiently before she replied. "He's just tired for now, crawls around every so often and writhes then hides back under the bed again." she responded as she looked at Anfisa quietly and looked to the bed. The Hunter was growling quietly at something.

"Love ya too, Dad." the boy said, a smile still on his face as he tore his eyes away from the screen. He glanced over at his father and got up long enough to go over and hug the man. His father was basically his entire world. He trusted no one more than his own father, and when his father was not around to protect him, he trusted the other survivors. They had been traveling together for a few weeks now, so he had no problem trusting them. As for his father, he knew that he would never likely trust them unless something very bad happened and they saved him from dying. Something like that. Anfisa gave her mother a bit of a nod before she herself crawled beneath the bed. She could hear his growls and she knew that the Hunter was not likely in a good mood. Whatever he was growling at, she hoped it was not her. The infected girl sniffed her way to where the hooded fiend was hiding and she crawled beside him, but sitting there. He'd not spoken yet.

Something like that, Josh wouldn't trust them unless they saved him or Embry. When he walked over and hugged him Josh slid a strong arm around his son and hugged him closely before he closed his eyes and settled down. "Love you too." And then he fell asleep. Nira snorts. "He ever more affectionate than that?" she questioned. If Josh was ever loving, it would never be in public, never ever ever. When was her Hunter ever in a good mood? The Hunter turned his head towards her with a growl but it wasn't her he was growling at, it was a small bug that was crawling in front of his face and annoying him. Her father had never... ever... been normal. "Get it away." Damnnn, his voice was hoarse. But if he was able to speak this deeply now then no doubt he'd make very steady progress. It seemed Daddy dearest disliked bugs.

"Nope. I'm surprised that he even said that with you guys around." he smiled once to the form of his sleeping father and went to go sit back down on the bench with his videogame. He didn't feel the need to sleep yet, despite him not getting enough rest the night before. He would most likely fall asleep after his father woke up, and he had a feeling that he would be awhile. Anfisa was shocked to hear him speak. She had thought that he would not be speaking for quite some time to come. She nuzzled his face and then she turned her attention to the little beetle that was crawling around on the floor. The infected girl's lips pulled back from her teeth and she growled before her hand went smacking down on it. However, the bug was a fast little guy. It darted out from beneath the bed. Anfisa quickly followed suit, trying so hard to squish it. Soon she was chasing it out into the main part of the RV, snarling like a wild animal as she chased a tiny little bug.

Josh was still snoring away when Anfisa came charging up to the front of the RV stretching out across the seat quietly with his jacket as his pillow, one arm beneath his head. The oldest, the wisest and the one with considerable pre-infection knowledge. He was fast asleep when she popped up, his back to her. Nira was up the front of the RV driving and Jake had stepped up to the front after her with his brows raised and silently watching with his arms folded across his chest. "Anfisa, what are you doing? It's a bug, leave it be." he said, brows furrowing. The Hunter didn't follow, watched her from underneath the blanket until she vanished. The little big was fast, and it seemed Anfisa was very happy to chase it.

"This is a matter of pride now! It's teasing me! Look at the smug look on it's face!" Anfisa said, her blurring vision starting to clear. She could see the little bug right behind Jake, and she was going to get at the tiny bugger, even if the boy in front of her tried to stop her. She snarled and crawled right between his legs, launching herself at the bug. When her fingers curled around the insect, she felt herself bloom with satisfaction on the inside. Finally! She'd gotten it. She was close to squishing it but then decided against it. She stood up and held the frantic beetle in her hand before she released it out the window. All was well now. She sat down and looked increasingly happy with herself. Embry burst out into giggles at the expression on her face.

"Anfisa, it's bu_uugg_!" Jake's voice went up an octave when she all but dived between his legs, his mouth falling open into an O shape and blushed before he moved over to the side to sit next to Embry, his brows furrowed. Josh hadn't woken up in the ruckus and the Hunter quietly crawled into the room when she sat down and crawled over to her, set his head on her leg and merely sat there like a dog with his head on her leg and a deep growl vibrated out of his chest. He was harmless to stroke, but Jake still refused to go anywhere near him until the man was human again.

"Bug or not, it still was teasing at me. Evil little insect! Just be glad that I didn't kill it and I decided to let it go instead." she snorted and looked over when the Hunter came out of nowhere and decided to lay his head down on her leg. She was not going to touch him since she was more interested in the fact that her eyesight had returned in one of her eyes. This pleased her a lot. She smirked before crawling over to where Josh was laying on the couch asleep and she watched him. He was still glaring at her every so often. She knew that he didn't trust her, and she could not say that she really blamed him. She stretched out and yawned deeply. Nothing interesting was happening.

"SHIT!" was the sudden wail and Nira did two things. She slammed her foot on the breaks at the same time she jumped up and wrenched the steering wheel to the left. It was enough to send Jake flying across the RV into the door and the Hunter to go rolling under the seat Embry was sat on. Poor Josh... Poor, poor Josh. When the RV came to a sudden stop Josh was sent flying off the couch and smacked into the half Infected girl with a tired wail. Josh hadn't slept for three days, and the moment he tried to catch a few Z's was the time Nira decided to play Grand Theft Auto on the back ways. Josh smacked straight into Anfisa, so tired he barely had time to even attempt a smooth landing. He just ended up in a heap on her, did he realize what his lips were touching? ... No.

What had Nira been avoiding to hit? Anfisa had been wondering that when the RV suddenly went careening to the side. She howled in surprise and began to scramble away from Josh as he suddenly went flying right at her. There was no justice in this world, was there? Embry had hit his head on the window, but aside from being dazed, he was fine. He paused long enough to glance at the Hunter beneath his seat and then his eyes came to rest on the sight of his father on top of Anfisa. The infected girl was staring right up at the soldier, her eyes wide and full of surprise. She had never kissed another soul, much less smooch such a cold and uptight man. She laid there beneath his weight, too shocked to so much as move a single muscle.

Jake had been sent hurtling towards the back of the RV and when he came back up, when he stopped, he stared. "Whoa! What the shit!" he suddenly exploded and that seemed to break the half asleep soldier to reality and jerked his head away quietly. He was uptight, silent, easy to trigger. He simply stared down at her for a second or two before he instantly jerked his head upright. "Guys, guys I am so sorry I…" Even Nira had stopped and stared at the two. Even the Hunter was staring at the two of them. For Josh it just did not compute, one second he'd been fast asleep and now he was on top of a scantily clad hybrid Infected who could very easily tear his throat out with the lips he was kissing. It just... didn't fit.

Both the sweet and caring infected girl and the uptight and cranky soldier were frozen in place. She did not know what to say. She was still, unmoving as her lips remained against his. Anfisa's fingers curled tightly into the carpet, but she did not show any signs of being hostile toward the man. When Jake suddenly burst out into curses, Embry glanced over at the old boy. No one was possibly more shocked by the entire scene than the boy himself. Finally he stood up and walked over to his father, poking him in the shoulder. "You're kissing her, Dad." Anfisa yelped before she began to crawl away from Josh, her eyes wide. She was still used to him trying to look for chances to kill her. She had NOT been ready for that.

When Embry poked him Josh was over the other side of the room, his face cracked into its famous glare. "What the hell? What the HELL?" he hated not being in control and when the RV had suddenly swerved, it had _not_ been in his control. Josh disliked blasphemy but at that moment he didn't care. He'd just kissed a living dead girl and it had freaked the shit out of him. Not since Kate, never since Kate. He'd promised that never ever would he fall in love or kiss another living breathing person since Kate. "Nira what the HELL was that**?"** he barked and Nira twitched, her shoulders slumping slightly. He was angered, very angered, angered yet creeped out and freaking out at the same time.

Anfisa's eyes narrowed as she glared at the man. So it seemed that the worse thing in the world was to kiss her! The anger was boiling down inside her. She was more than just slightly angry. She snarled at him quietly. Embry jumped back when his father suddenly burst out into a yelling fit. The boy began to slink back over to his seat and caught his videogame. He was sitting in his seat now, watching his father with just a little bit of interest. He was scared of his father, just a tiny little bit. He'd never seen his father get that upset over anything before. Anfisa coiled some before she launched herself forward, knocking Joshua down onto the ground. Her hands were clapped on his shoulders and she pinned him down in place. She suddenly opened her mouth and let out an inhuman scream in his face. Once that had happened, she was right off of him and she scrambled out the window and into the darkness.

The moment she jumped on him Josh's first reaction was to grab her by the shoulder and throw her over him back towards the end of the RV and shot to his feet, raising his fists. When she left, Josh patiently closed his eyes and inhaled. It seemed he didn't breathe for a few seconds and then exhaled before he stepped towards the back of the RV and into a tiny side room, slammed the door behind him. Nira swallowed quietly. "I don't think we should... Bug them for a while**…"** she said quietly as she looked between them. Both of them were angry, so angry. Besides, why did Anfisa even care? Why did she even get so angry? There was nothing between them at all.

Just because there was nothing between them did not mean that Anfisa liked to be treated as if she were some dangerous monster. Well, while she as fairly dangerous, she did not think that it was right that he treat her in such a way. The girl was content to just hunch over on a branch and glare down in the direction of the RV. She turned and she jumped from branch to branch, desperately wanting to get out of the way. Embry watched Nira for a moment and he stood up, meandering over to the door of the side room that his father was hiding in. He knocked on the door quietly. "Dad? Are you okay?"

Well, she was, and the first time he'd seen her he'd tried to shoot her. The man sighed gruffly when Embry was knocking on the door and ran his hands down his face. "Embry, I'm fine**."** Josh grunted quietly as he slid down the wall and patiently put his arms over his head. It wasn't the fact they'd kissed, had he been single when the Infection started he wouldn't have really cared. But Kate... No. Too soon. "I'm sorry, Kate." Jake did nothing but lightly squeeze Embry's shoulder assuredly whilst he dragged the Hunter - who was flailing and yowling - passed back into the back bedroom by the hood.


	8. Chapter 7

_And here we have another chapter that is almost a month later after chapters 3-5 were uploaded. I hope you guys like this one. I have to say that I do._

_In this chapter a new character is introduced and then from there you all will LOVE the ending. I know I do. I swear that it's just so adorable! School is starting soon for the Flea and myself soon, so this may be the last chapter yall get for awhile. I'm going to be VERY busy this year. After all, I'm a junior this year. __J_

_Enjoy it and review! _

_With love, SanctusEspiritus37_

"Josh, why did you have to react like such a bastard?" a pause then the snarl. "Why did you have to jerk the fucking RV across for no bloody reason?" Jakobi looked to Embry and shrugged very slowly and carried on sniping out of the window with a soft growl. "Just keep driving. She has to be around here somewhere." he growled quietly and Josh turned back to the rifle and carried on looking back and forth for both Infected and Anfisa. The Hunter was sitting on the top of the RV to let the wind bound around his hood sniffing away and let out a howling noise to try and locate his daughter. He wanted to know where his daughter was, where she'd run off to because he loved his daughter and he didn't want her hurt.

Embry was still sitting there and playing his game. He did not feel as if what his father had done had been right, but it was not possible to go back inside. He was just going to have to sit there and deal with the fact that a girl he admired had disappeared. All of the fighting that was going on inside the RV was starting to get to the boy. He narrowed his eyes and then stood up, walking over to where his father was standing. "You snapped at Anfisa, Dad. She wouldn't have run off if you had not been a bit more kind to her. It's not her fault that you were thrown on top of her. Besides, why are you so angry about it?" the boy asked.

"He's a soldier, Embry, being kind isn't on his mechanical to do list." Nira commented as she turned around in her seat to look at him. Josh merely grit his teeth and stared ahead. "You wouldn't understand." he said simply before he pulled down the rifle and simply reloaded before putting it back against the window and set his knee back against the couch. Well if it got to them that much kick him out and Josh would walk. "Why don't we all shut up, stop pointing fingers and start looking." the Witch replied as she walked to the front and silently looked out of the window, pushed the door open and leaned against the side to catch the scent of her daughter on the wind.

"Just because he's a soldier does not mean that he has the right to get mad at someone for something that was not even her fault." the boy huffed. He was angry that his father seemed to blame Anfisa for everything bad that had been going on. The girl had done nothing wrong aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When his father spoke to him, his brows shot up. "I wouldn't understand? You're right! I wouldn't understand anything since you won't tell me anything!" And most likely to everyone's surprise, the boy suddenly shot from where he had been sitting and right out the door of the slow moving RV. He was angry at his father.

"Embry, Embry don't it's dangerous out there!" Josh called but when the boy ignored him Jake quietly slung the rifle over his back and then leaped out with Josh right behind him. Nah, it wouldn't be Josh to find the kid it would be Jake to find him this time around. "Embry, Embry wait!" Damn kid. Running around without a weapon was suicide, running around alone was also extremely stupid and Jakobi wasn't going to risk the young boys life. Nira was silently driving still, the Hunter on the roof and the Witch in the doorframe would keep it safe.

Embry did not care what his father yelled after him. Josh never said anything to the boy at all. Not even when something was wrong with him. He was angry and he felt the need to just go out and vent. However, as he just continued to run farther and farther from the RV, the more anger built up in the boy's veins. He was angry now. In fact, he was sure that he had never felt such anger before in his life. However, he came to a screeching halt when a spitter came around a tree, her throat bulging out dangerously. Her head cocked to the side and she studied the boy for a moment. Embry stood stock still, fear coursing through him as it replaced the anger.

Josh never did tell his boy anything, not about himself anyway. If something was wrong, he didn't tell Embry it. There was no need, too much shit going on, too much going on. When Embry was ill Josh did his best to comfort him, but his wife had been the one to care for the boy. That wasn't an excuse. Of course Josh wasn't the one to find the boy this time because he wasn't as quick as he used to be which unfortunatley was the bad side. The man who did find him however, was younger and in his prime for physical fitness. When he saw the spitter, Jake silently skidded to a halt and stared at the spitter while she stared at Jake, pulling free the rifle and stepped forwards to grab Embry by the collar and yank him backwards... Jake never wanted children.

Just because Jake never wanted children did not mean that he would never have children. Just as the young man pulled Embry back away from the hostile spitter, something was shifting in the shadows. Embry's eyes widened and suddenly there was the light from a muzzle flash and there was a good sized whole in the bloated stomach of the spitter, her lifeless body falling down onto the ground. Embry turned roughly and he looked up to see a young woman, no older than twenty-two years old. She grinned lightly in satisfaction as the acid poured out of the spitter and began to sizzle on the dirt. She had a decent body, her breasts were two sizes bigger than Anfisa's, and she had a rather slim waist. Her hips gracefully supported her frame and her legs were long but perhaps a bit muscled. Her long blond hair was in complete dreadlocks. She was balancing a rifle on her shoulder and her white teeth flashed a grin in Jake's direction. "What the hell are ya' city slickers doin' out 'ere?"

Jake looked down at Embry with a glare and when the newbie showed up he silently pulled his rifle up and watched her with a frown. "We were heading towards the Sanctuary, it's close by but we're searching for someone. Wears a hoodie like a jumper." A Hunter. His hand rested on Embry's shoulder and it was useless trying to wiggle out of his grip because it was iron without harm. "What're _you_ doing out here?" Jakobi prompted as he watched her, looked her over silently with a frown. With the Spitter down the man wasn't all that hypersensitive to what was around him but still he still wanted to get back to the RV and bloody quickly. She _did_ have a good body.

"The name's Sawyer. A lot o' people just call my Sassy." the woman said, sarcasm dripping in her voice before she went over to look the boy over quietly and she ruffled his hair. "I live 'round these parts. Takes some time to get used to all these zombies." the woman stated and soon she was taking in the sight of the young man and the boy. "The Sanc? Well, you guys are out o' luck. The entire settlement has moved west." she placed her hands on her hips before she heard the trees creak. Anfisa jumped down from the branches and she looked Jake and Embry over. "What's going on?"

"Jakobi, I'm pretty sure he can introduce himself. Nice to meet you Sawyer." A gesture to the boys hair she'd just ruffled and silently kept his rifle resting in one hand and scratched his ear. "Moved west? You're joking. It's taken us weeks to get here" Just to find the entire bloody thing had moved again. Jakobi made the noise of ultimate dispair "Please tell me they didn't move far? I don't think I can stay in that RV for very much longer." he muttered quietly and when Anfisa jumped down Jake hammered his forehead with his hand. "There you are. Welcome back. And to be honest I don't know what's going on."

"Yep. The entire settlement picked up and moved west. I think they went to San Fran?" Sassy said, looking between the girl that had just come out of nowhere and now over to the boy that was now looking around for his father. Embry had been angry. Now he was just wanting to get back to his father and apologize. Sawyer scratched the back of her head and she said. "It's a good thing that they did move west. As far as I know, radiation was all over the place." she nodded. Anfisa sat down and she studied the man. That was when she heard the noise of someone coming from the direction of the RV, no doubt that Josh had finally caught up.

Jakobi rubbed her face. "Thank you, Sassy." he said lightly as he glanced over when Josh did finally come spilling out of the undergrowth. Damn his age. Just... Damn it. Behind it scampered the Hunter, having caught his daughters scent and when he found her the beast leaped forwards quietly and wrapped his arms around her with a quiet whine. He'd missed her. After a moment or two he pulled back and sat down on his haunches next to her. "What will you do? Are you just going to... carry on wondering around alone?"

"You're very welcome." the woman said and it seemed as if she was going to turn back and go home. However, she froze when the Hunter came out of nowhere and tackled Anfisa and started to whine. Her eyes widened and she motioned to him with her rifle. The second that she did, Anfisa erupted into a fit of growling, her eyes narrowing. She did not take it lightly when someone threatened to hurt her family. In fact, she often got very agressive when the Witch or Hunter was threatened in any manner. Embry moved from where Jakobi was holding him and he ran over to his father, his arms going around his waist. He really was sorry for what he'd done. Sawyer shrugged. "Dunno what I'm gunna do."

"No shooting, don't shoot it or you'll piss them off. That's Daddy, okay? Daddy." he pointed at the Hunter. "Daughter." he pointed at Anfisa. "Don't shoot whatever you do... You'll get used to it eventually." he nodded. The Hunter quietly whined and sat down next to her, silently trying to squash a spider that was crawling underneath the leaves before he leaped up and growled at it, chest to the floor and watched it, crawled after it and Jake made a noise. "Umm, darlin? I think you need to go get back your father**…"** he said, the Hunter ignored him and carried on going. Then he turned to Sawyer. "Well, ya'll could come along with us if you wanted... I mean, I dunno, it's dangerous to stay out here alone an' all…" Jake said slowly. When he ran over Josh said nothing and when hugged Josh very slowly stroked the top of Embry's head with his gaze on the new woman before going down to him with a soft sigh, kneeling down on one knee to look the boy over. "Are you okay?"

Nothing could piss Anfisa more than someone going and trying to kill either of her parents. She tended to be more protective over the Witch since her mother did not move too much, and even more so now since she had lost her will to kill someone if they got too close. Anfisa watched as the Hunter disappeared into the shadows and she snarled softly before she launched herself after the male. Geez. He was always running off, wasn't he? Sassy was surprised about the entire ordeal. "Daddy? That THING is her father? What sort of mixed up hell is this? How is he not trying to kill her?" Sawyer had never come across someone that had been raised by zombies, much less one that was the actual daughter of one. Embry nodded at once. "Oh. I'm fine." he wrapped his arms around his waist again and he just hugged his father tightly.

The Witch wouldn't kill if provoked now, the Hunter would nom on their throat if he had to. "Yeah... It's a long story but the point is as long as you don't piss him off, or point a gun at the next Hunter or Witch that you see then you'll be fine. Trust me, he's still trying to get over it." Jakobi jerked his thumb at Josh who had his arms lightly resting on Embry to make sure he was still there. The Hunter was still running after that spider, he caught it eventually and watched it climb up a rock before he stuck his tongue on it. Now... That was just disgusting. "Anfisa was born out of the mating of a Witch and Hunter, I don't know either but somehow it's possible."

Anfisa shivered when she caught sight of the Hunter and before he could eat the poor spider, she caught hold of his hoodie and she began to drag his sorry butt back towards the RV. They did not have enough time to wait while he began to hunt down every single little bug in the entire forest. Not just that, Anfisa did not feel like running after him that much. Sassy blinked once or twice and then she just shook her head. "Sure. I'll pretend to believe that. The zombies can't have babies." At least she did not think that they could. When Anfisa began to drag the Hunter by the small group of people, Sassy made up her mind. "Sure. I'll come with yall." she mused. It was going to be interesting.

"You haven't seen the amount of time they... um... Get it on. It's not nice to listen to." he said, looking back towards the daughter and father before he nodded and sheathed his weapon. "Back this way." he said as he started walking back towards the RV. The Hunter whined when she yanked him away, leaving the little bug to crawl away and his tastey meal and then went back with her, nibbling impaitently at his own navy jumper. When the others started maing their way back, hand resting on Embry's shoulder and sighed tenderly with his shotgun in the other hand. When they trailed behind, he merely stepped over a log and blinked quoietly before he stopped and listened. The others were ahead and Josh knew there was something around. The grip on the boys shoulder increased tenfold and he pulled the shotgun off his shoulder. His gaze swam across the room, brow raising. He heard it before he saw it, suddenly swinging Embry around to take the brunt of what could only be described as a barf ball smacked the back of his jacket. Now. That wasn't very nice. Josh hated spitters just as much... AS HE HATED CHARGERS! "Op, Karma Charger." He hated karma chargers. Swinging Embry once again out the wall and shoving him aside while the charger just grabbed and slammed him into the dirt. "JAKE!" Josh hated chargers.

"Well, I guess that I have been fairly warned." Sawyer stated as she began to make her way alongside Jake. She was starting to find the little band interesting, so when she caught sight of the RV and the Witch standing in the door, her brow raised. However, she had not tried to go and shoot her at least. She was staying pretty relaxed. When Josh was grabbed by the charger and then began to be beaten into the ground, it was not Jake that came to his rescue. Anfisa screamed and she jumped up onto the back of the beast, pulling a combat knife from seemingly nowhere and she stabbed it down into the beast. The charger let Josh go and roared as it tried to pry the girl off of it's back. It finally found purchase on her hoodie and it threw her into a tree. Anfisa whined somewhat, but she looked at Josh. "Get yourself and Embry out of here!"

The Witch turned towards them and instead of screaming and attaching and trying to scrap them to death, she turned and walked inside paitently and Jakobi made a motion, quietly walked in first and looked around. "Nira, we're heading to San Francisco. The Sanctuary is gone**."** he said as he watched her. Nira was standing up, paitent, watching them and when Sawyer walked in the woman looked startled. The Hunter was already ahead again, grabbing the Witch by the neck with his teeth and dragged her into the back room. Josh simply lay there for a second before he picked himself upright shurgging off his jacket as the spitter acid burnt through and to the skin, turning his shotgun on the beast before he called. "Take it." and he tossed it across. She was at a tree, not being slammed into the ground again so that was a good thing. Then he had no choice but to turn and grab Embry to stumble back towards the RV. No. Stupid Karma Chargers always caught him off guard.

Well, now he would not have to worry about the Karma Charger. It was now more focused on trying to kill the girl in front of it. She scrambled up the trunk of the tree and jumped over the zombies head. As Embry and Josh hurried back to the RV, Sawyer held the door open for them. "Hey. Where's the creepy girl? You didn't leave her alone back there, did ya?" the country girl raised a brow. Embry had just heard what Jake had said. "The Sanctuary is gone? That means that we now have to go somewhere else?" Crap. That meant that they were going to be trapped on that RV for awhile longer. Just before the door shut, a shotgun was thrown inside and Anfisa scrambled inside, a bit of blood marked her skin. She sat up and looked around. "Well then."

"Don't comment." Josh said as he dived inside after making sure Embry went first. Nira had already started pullling away when Anfisa leaped inside and the RV screeched away instantly down the almost man made road with a deep sigh. "We can't get rid of her." Jake teased as he looked at her and Josh was standing in the middle of the RV shrugging out of his shirt with a wince and looked over his shoulder down at the burn marks the acid had left with a flinch. Damnit, it hurt. "Yeah, sorry kid, we're stuck in here for a while longer**."** said Jakobi as he frowned and ran his hand through his hair.

"I just want to get out of here." the poor boy said with a bit of a sigh and he sat down, closing his eyes. Oh well. Aside from the obvious drama, Embry was wanting nothing more than to sleep. Sleep sounded like a very nice alternative to doing nothing aside from just sitting there and collecting dust. Anfisa studied Jake for a moment or so before she stretched out and she laid down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. It sucked to be her and she knew it. Well, at least Josh and Embry had made it back to the RV without much of a problem. She closed her eyes and she smiled ever so gently.

Jakobi wrinkled his lips. "You're telling me." he mumbled quietly before he went and sat down. When Josh stopped jigging up and down the man turned on her and for a second it looked like he was going to beat the shit out of her but instead Josh stepped forwards and leaned down and wrapped his arms around her and hugged her quietly to his chest with an almost silent sigh only feelable on bare skin. "Thank you. Thank you. I am sorry." he murmured softly. Nira just blinked at them through the mirror, but said nothing on it. Josh didn't seem to mind the fact she could stab him in the stomach, but he owed her an apology and a break. He needed to learn to trust again, and now he knew it.


	9. Chapter 8

_So... It's been what? I haven't been counting. Here's another chapter for y'all, I don't know how long it'll be but there are some... Major things goin' down at the moment in the writing. As for the frequency, sorry guys but y'all have to suffer because coursework for me is being a real bitch and generally I just don't have as much muse to write with anymore. My creativity is being sucked into Photoshop like a vac picks up dirt, y'know? _

_I don't need a disclaimer do I guys? You already know what I'm going to say even if I did. So here, s'another chapter for you to gorge yourself on while we're busy writing up whatever it is we're writing up for the next chapters. _

_- Flea._

The dawn looked lovely, even as it rose over the horizon the pinks splayed over the road in front of them. Something told her the weather wasn't exactly going to be perfect for them today but she didn't comment at all on it. Jake was lying on the floor, doing push ups with his jacket off and sweat lightly beading at his skin. The lizard that he'd found in the cupboard did indeed seem to like licking the salty liquid off him and every so often it would definitely put him off and he'd lost count. Josh was standing by the RV's door in silence, gazing out of the small window with his rifle strapped to his back, his dog tags coiled around his hand like a knuckle duster. They were due to stop soon and what he didn't want was anyone getting out there before he did. Exit stage left. The Hunter and Witch were asleep in the back room, coiled up together, the Witch in the Hunter's lap and the Hunter's head on her own, completely ignoring the presence of the others and the quilt had been clawed up to make a light nest. "Stop, Nira," Josh called, looking up. Nira pulled over quietly, and Jakobi grabbed the knife that was closest to him. "What is it?" he asked. Josh merely shook his head, pushed open the door and stepped out. "Well someone's in a bad mood," he muttered.

"When is he not in a bad mood?" Sassy suddenly asked from where she had been sitting close to Embry and Anfisa. She stood up and then she peeked out the door to find out where the soldier man had gone. Anfisa crawled from her place and went to go check on her parents only once before she went out the window to see what was going on outside. "I wish he wouldn't run off like that all the time," the young woman grumbled under her breath and she jumped down from the top of the RV and then she found herself running in the direction that Josh had gone. She could sense him and knew that all was well. Well, that was good for him and for her. Things had been awkward between the two since he had hugged her for saving not only his life, but Embry's life as well. She could hear the sounds of Sassy dragging Jake through the bushes to go find out why Josh had ordered Nira to stop the vehicle so suddenly. Everyone was curious, even Embry.

"But Sassy! I don't wanna go! It's hit fault if he gets eaten!" Jake could be heard wailing and it most likely amused Nira to no end. Of course Anfisa would end up finding him first, he was a soldier, he was trained in tracking and he'd noticed something rather intruiging. He was following something, stepping over a body and silently started going through its pockets. "Anfisa you don't have to follow me everywhere, y'know. I can take care of myself, besides, we haven't seen any Infected for miles," he said without looking around, leaning back and silently held up a locket on a chain, pocketed it and went back to rummaging again. It wasn't just one body, it was several. "They came across the road, down the embankment. Must've died right here, animals maybe or Infected. I dunno." He was just throwing things around. "Eitherway, they came from the direction we need to go. Why would they be running away from the sanctuary?" Unless they were travelers, but they weren't armed up that much.

"Did I give ya a choice on whether or not ya wanted to go?" the woman questioned, looking at the younger man. He needed to learn that when you traveled in a group, you had to look out for each other. Sassy had given up on being quiet while she stomped through the ferns. "What he say?" she asked as she looked to Anfisa then, watching the infected girl's face. Anfisa blinked once and then she crawled up the trunk of the nearest tree. She sat perched precariously on a branch as she sniffed at the air. "I think something has happened to the Sanctuary," she said as she looked down at Josh. She then suddenly shot from the tree branch and barely caught another just in the nick of time. "I shall scout ahead?"

"Don't go out of ear shot," Josh warned as he pushed himself to stand and mutely move around the bodies one at a time looking through each and every body with precision and silent skills. Jakobi made a noise, rubbed his temples. "Women yer gunna be the headache of my life one day**."** Jake loved Sassy's company around, she told him what to do and she also gave him no choice to do several things like going after the moody assed soldier. "What could possibly have been bad enough for them to leave the Sanctuary?" he said, looking around. "I'm not a mind reader, Jake. But my idea is the place could have been over run. It depends what Anfisa found, is Embry safe in the RV?" Jake nodded, and Josh nodded - satisfied it seemed.

Sassy was leaning against the tree now, her eyes studying the two men before she shrugged. "I told ya guys they moved west. You didn't wanna listen to me though," she said, twirling one of her dreadlocks on her fingertip. She did not know what to tell them. She had warned them that the Sanctuary had moved west, at least, those that could moved west. It seemed as though many of them had died in the process of leaving. "Though, it does make me wonder what happened," she nodded. She was curious. They would stay put until Anfisa came back with news on what was going on. On the other end, the girl had found it. She stared at the lonely clump of building. The fence that had surrounded the place had been felled and partially laid on the ground. Anfisa strained all of her senses. She could hear screams of the dying and the Infected that ate from them. There was no one else alive though, and those that were alive and being feasted on were all but goners. There was no hope of saving them.

There was no hope. It didn't seem like there was hope for anyone. Jake had silently started to move around the clearing in a circle and Josh aimed a nasty sounding punch at a tree. The bark didn't buckle but his knuckles did, thankfully the gloves stopped him from spreading the skin but he'd probably just damaged if not broken one of two of the joints. "Fuck it all." How was he supposed to bring up Embry if everything and anything would just end up being slaughtered again. Jakobi stopped his pacing, checking the rifle site. "We don't have enough gas to make it to the new location, so we just have to hope that we can make it to the remains of a nearby village or small town and find gas there..."

Anfisa came crawling back, her eyes were wild. "Going in there right now would be suicide. I say we go in only if you guys think it is worth getting whatever supplies they left, which I have a feeling, will not be much at all." Everyone had to make a big choice right then. Sassy spit out the bit of gum she had been chewing on and she wiped sweat from her brow and leaned forward, watching all three of them. "I say we go in. Nira can't leave the RV. They might of left some gas." Anfisa doubted that one. She stood tall and put her hands on her hips. Now she was looking to Josh. "Well then. It seemed like it is up to you whether or not we leave or go in to get supplies."

"I say we go in. Using a buddy system we could make it but we stay on the outskirts, any sign of major trouble we get the hell out of there. Anfisa, did you see any sort of gas station, any sort of outside vehicle support? No Sanctuary would be without somewhere to take care of the cars and APC's going in or out. Not if it was military, and even if it isn't there is still that strong chance." Josh stood up, stepping over a twig and moved around to keep his mind moving at the same speed. "Buddy system. Sas can go with Jake, Anfisa you can come with me. Embry can stay with Nira in the RV and we should talk to her about keeping the RV somewhere we can sprint to if we get into trouble." Not Josh, soldier, entirely different person.

Sassy gave a cheeky smile and she just nodded to the man before she looped her arm with Jake's and she could not help but wink at him. She liked the feisty guy. Though, he was considerably younger than she was, she felt strangely at ease with him. Anfisa on the other hand, had been paired up with the guy that had hated her not so long ago. She was paired with him and her life was going to depend on him in case something went wrong. Damn. Things could go from awkward to really bad very quickly. Anfisa cleared her throat and she rubbed a sore shoulder once before she pointed to the RV. "You only get one chance at backing out of this, Joshua. I mean, that place is littered with infected, and I smelt something else that didn't seem… normal. It's hard to explain."

"Anfisa, you are not normal and yet you don't find me backing away from you," replied Joshua as he continued to put the spare ammunition in the belt that he'd just acquired and turned to face her, pursed his lips and the expression on his face was a stoic, unreadable one. "If I wasn't sure about this would I have gone through all of the trouble putting people into teams? Unfortunately you're stuck with me. So make the most of my not trying to kill you." Because Josh was still iffy around her, although he'd grown to rely and become friendly with her he still didn't trust her as far as he could kick her about her lineage, to cover his ass in a fight though he had no problem putting that part of his life in her hands. Jakobi grinned when they linked arms and sidled off with her, the machete hanging limply from his hand but ready and waiting for anything in case it decided to pop up out of the tree's at him. Jake didn't do good with things going BWAHH! in his face very often. No. It down right scared him, then again, Sassy scared him at some points. Not for long, but heck he wasn't going to deny that on some occasions she did.

"Don't be an asshole." Anfisa growled suddenly. Well, that was the first time she had ever cussed. The young woman had been so innocent for such a long time, she had never uttered a single cuss word, until now. That brought even Sassy back. She looked between Anfisa and Josh and then she broke into a bright smile. "Well! If I do recall, that was Anfie's first cuss word! Welcome to the fucking post-apocalyptic world where zombies have taken over and cussing is the norm!" The southern belle let out a bellow of a laugh. "Oh! I think I better get back to Jake before he pisses his pants. That little guy is so damned jumpy that it's not even funny." She gave Josh a mock salute before she went marching after the jumpy man.

Josh watched her quietly with a raised brow and looked amused. "I second Sassy," he replied simply and patted himself down and then watched her with his arms folded. "Well I'm proud of you. Did Jake teach you that, or Sassy herself? Or do you just listen to our conversations in general**?"** He never did well with being insulted. Jakobi was incredibly jumpy, but it had kept Nira and himself alive so no one could really complain about that, he'd gone on ahead to pick up some of his things that he'd left in the RV before the groups all scattered.

Anfisa did not look amused at all. She glared at Josh and then she shook her head. "No one taught me that. I have known how to cuss for awhile now. I mean, I can't help it if you're a prick that can't get along with anyone.," she sneered and just huffed, turning on her heel and sort of just fuming as she walked away from him, towards the abandoned sanctuary. She needed to get away from him and she wanted to vent to someone, but he was going to be the one to go with her into the place, and it was as unnerving as trying to take on a Tank all on her own. She tried to act brave, but really, she was just a seventeen year old girl.

She was only seventeen and Josh... Josh was so much older, he knew more, he'd seen and done more and more than anything else he knew what the world was capable of. What it had once been, the bitterness of loosing his wife and his paranoia over not putting Embry under any sort of danger was what drove him. Embry, simple as. He had nothing more to live for, which was probably why had Anfisa attacked him he'd have been stupid enough to retaliate. When she walked away from him the soldier rolled his shoulders and followed, his rifle resting against his shoulder with the muzzle facing the air and his finger on the trigger guard. The safety was off, yes, but he still knew what he was doing when it came to weapons and weapon management.

Anfisa had glanced back to make sure that he was still with her a couple of times, but mostly she was more focused on what was in front of her and what was around them both. They could not be attacked while they were off guard. That would only lead to them both dying. When she heard one twig snap, she would suddenly look in the direction it had come and just sort of freeze. That happened only a few times, but most of the time it was only like a bird or small mammal. She was just getting herself worked up. When they got to the fence, she had to go up close before she could hear the faint buzz. "The electricity is still on. That means they could not have left too long ago." She had to find a way for Josh to get in.

He heard what she said and took his sweet time examining it and pursed his lips before he looked around. "True. If it's wired into the main grid, the station is still running. If it's wired to a generator, it could run out at any moment. Difficult to say... Digging under would take me a while, and I can't jump over so we'll have to think of something." He wouldn't risk going near it with wire cutters just in case it sparked.

Anfisa looked back and forth, down the long line of fencing. She didn't want to be standing there for a really long time with so many infected around them. And then she got it. She got an evil little smirk and she pointed to a tree nearby. "Go up there and hide. I think I know a way to get this blasted thing busted." Her catlike muscles bunched and then she jumped out of sight. She jumped from tree limb to tree limb until she found exactly what she was looking for. Of course it was not alone. There were all sorts of nasty normal infected with it, but the charger was just perfect. Her dark eyes were bright as she let out a squeal, which alerted the charger and it's posse of normal infected. The beast turned it's tiny head and looked up at her, it's beady little eyes were filled with hunger. She winked and then jumped down on the ground. It let out a loud roar and it charged at her. Anfisa twisted out of the way quickly and she began hightailing it out of there. She had a plan and if it was going to work, she had to make sure that she did not get run over in the process. She led that damned charger and it's little buddies all through the forest before she got back to the fence. She glanced up at Josh once before she came skidding to a halt.

Josh had hidden himself in the tree exactly like she'd told him too, god knows how his old ass had gotten up there so quickly but he had done and waited until the last possible moment before he hooked his legs and dangled down, grabbed her by the back of the shirt and hauled her up there with him to avoid her being trampled on by the hungry Charger as it collided with said fence. Josh would have felt sorry for it, had he been bloody human but Josh didn't feel anything for infected. Well. Bar Anfisa but that was beyond him now. "Bait. Clever," the soldier muttered as he glanced at her, still holding onto the back of her shirt before he let go and quietly exhaled, shook his head. He should have been used to this by now, whether or not the Charger was dead or not yet he hadn't stopped to check and didn't until he dropped down off the branches.

Anfisa was feeling proud of herself. Josh had actually complimented her, and she knew that was something that would likely never happen again. "It's better than trying to dig your way through, aye?" she looked proud of herself. But the woman did not let the pride go to her head when she suddenly heard a crack of thunder and she looked up at the sky. There was another sharp crack and lightning lit up the sky just as it began to pour. They were both already soaked. "Oh hell. I think we should get out of the rain." The charger had busted through the fence, but it wasn't dead. In fact, it had run out of sight. Seconds later, Sassy let out a squeal. Anfisa was not worried about them though. Jake and Sassy would be fine. Anfisa grabbed Josh by the wrist and she all but pulled him through the gap in the fence. They needed to find shelter until the storm was over.

"Surprise," Josh muttered when he heard the squeal and dropped down, crouching for his knees to absorb the shock and followed her through the fence as she grasped him by the wrist and jogged to keep up with her. It was fine in the city, pockets of Infected that they could fight through and nothing too out of the ordinary for them to really be concerned, no bellowing Tanks at the moment anyway. "That house over there looks open," he said, motioning with his other hand on her visible side and bobbed his head. It looked good enough, and it looked secure - the windows were semi-boarded and it would be easy to barricade the front door.

"Could you possibly be any more negative?" Anfisa accused as she rolled her eyes and then she headed for the house that he had indicated. She had let go of his wrist by now and she jerked open the door and she looked around inside quickly. Something seemed wrong, but she was not going to dwell on it. She was most likely just smelling mold. That was all she was hoping it was. She looked back at Josh once. And then she saw a shit load of infected into view. She let out a squeal and pulled Josh in quickly, not being careful about it. She didn't know that she had just caused him to get hurt. She slammed the door closed and she pushed a dresser in front of the front door.

"Yeah, but I'm being happy so don't kill my mood," Josh replied, well his mood did end up plummeting to the ground the moment she hauled him inside the house. The combined weight of himself and his gear had forced the wood below him on the porch to splinter, catching his boot and when she'd dragged him in she'd jarred the muscle, he hadn't been expecting it so didn't catch himself lightly either and simply hit the floor face first with a loud yowl of pain and surprise. He'd not been expecting a dinner date with dust mites but what was more concerning was the pain in his leg. It hurt. "God damn it, did you ever master gentle**?"** he asked, unclipping himself and rolling onto his back to sit up and see to his foot. Eh. He'd hurt himself alright.

"I guess I just don't know what it means to be gentle," she sneered at him and then she noticed that he was actually hurt. She felt guilty, but not that guilty. He was an asshole and he deserved everything he got, at least, some of what he got. She leaned down and she inspected his ankle before she said. "Be glad it's only twisted or sprained. If it was broken, that would have been bad for us. Come on. We should go upstairs. I'm soaking wet, and so are you." She had reached down and she had grabbed him from under his armpits and she began to haul him up the stairs to the bedroom.


	10. Chapter 9

_And this, my lovely readers, has got to be my most favorite chapter up until now. I love it for a lot of reasons. A new character is introduced and something VERY important to the rest of the story happens in this chapter. It's very important, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as the Flea and I have enjoyed writing it. It's been a long time since we updated, so I hope two chapters is good enough for awhile. I've been very busy lately._

_In other news, the Flea and I have talked it over, and we may be getting some outside help with Anfisa. What happens is we use Chatzy for the roleplay bit of the story. Well, we don't use quotations at all in the normal roleplay. So I have to copy and paste the posts into a word document and then I have to manually go through and unbold everything, and I have to add correct punctuation and quotes. While I do all that, I have to look for misspelled words and grammar mistakes. Honestly, it's a lot of work and I frankly don't like doing it. I do it for you guys. But I still miss a lot of stuff, like one person pointed out, I said "play boy" instead of "game boy", like I meant. So, I want someone who would do all that stuff for me. If you want to be a huge help and help us crank Anfisa out faster, and in better quality, either message me here or email me at /_

_This will be a big help in the future and whoever I end up choosing, you will be rewarded. It won't be with money, cause I'm broke, but you will get a say in what happens in the fiction, and you will also get a sneak peek at what is to come in later chapters, since you get to proof read and reformat stuff. _

_With lots of love,_

_~Sanctus_

"Well, it's official." The soldier silently stopped his pacing, combats and boots wet from the slog through the mud after trying to bury out the RV, it had failed and both he and Jake had been forced to flee when a Charger had come onto the scene and blocked their way back inside. Jake - he'd gathered - had gotten back in by just running a circle while the damn steriod busting bastard had gone chasing after the quickest thing on two legs that could technically be classed as 100% meat. "We can't go anywhere until after this rain stops. Otherwise we'll just sink, and I don't know about you but you can boot your ass out of the window if you think I'm climbing through tree's with an ankle like this." Josh knew what his limits were. Unfortunately he'd reached his. Turning he slumped across the room and hit the bed with a grunt, flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling while running a hand through the close cropped dark hair before rolling over and watching her slightly. "Will you go back or stay?" Josh had learned to entrust Embry to Nira, it was better than having the kid witnessing the violence his father - and trio - could inflict and what could be done to them. It was dark, the only light being there was an old oil lamp he'd found in the basement after barricading the doors and windows. It sat on a side unit which illuminated nearly all of the room but made everything flicker and shadows appear darker. Rifle and jacket discarded, soaked to the bone but that was all the fun in an apocalypse wasn't it? Crazy nut jobs busting their backs to get to civilization which actually doesn't turn out to be a safe haven after all. The thought more than amused him. _Yeah right._. He'd grown to trust Anfisa enough not to threaten her, in fact he'd openly stuck up for her a couple of times. Okay, that had been in playful situations but he'd still done it. The oldest of the group, aside from Nira, had the most experience, but definitely the most mysterious. He'd never said much about himself, never even given them a last name. Not that he could recall, but he'd slept since then.

"I'm too wet to go anywhere. I may be half-way infected with the virus, but even I am not crazy enough to go out in that storm." The young woman snorted and turned her head away from Josh before he could say another word to her. She was not going to leave the room either, most likely. They had been separated from Jake and the others when the rains had started. Oh well. It wasn't like Nira, Sassy, and Jakobi couldn't watch over Embry. They had all come to love the young boy. He was so full of life and he was a boy that was very hard to be ignored. She sighed lightly before she took off the hoody that she always wore around Joshua. Today was going to be the first time that he would ever have seen her without it on. Beneath that hoodie she wore nothing aside from an old bra that looked like it had seen better days. She looked away from Josh before she kept her back facing him and let her bra fall from her shoulders and back. She just needed to keep her back to him. She wanted to get out of her wet clothes and she wanted to be able to feel comfortable. She sat down and then she stripped out of her shorts. Now, she was completely nude while being in the same room as Josh. He would probably notice the little scars that ran all of her body, but aside from that, she looked like a very normal woman.

Jake and Nira loved the boy, it was hard to ignore him but even her humanoid Hunter-father had taken a liking to the boy. Mother Witch included. Sassy liked Embry, loved him? She had not known the kid long enough to know. Joshua had in fact been half off with his shirt by the time she just casually dropped the bra and blinked quietly, gazed at her back and tried in vain to quell the growing ache in the pit of his stomach. _Not here. Not with her. Oh what am I chatting._ Subconscious gave in and just left him sitting there before he cleared his throat and went back to pulling off the almost too-tight shirt and tossed it aside, left him in just dog-tags and rolled up combats, pushed himself upright. He'd noticed the scars but they weren't all that much of a bother too him really, no one this day and age could get through life without being torn into a few times. Fortunately him and Embry had avoided a tooth on interaction between the Infected and themselves. He'd not seen her without the hoodie on, let alone the shorts and the bra and it just re-enforced the judgment that, yes, she was human. Or at least she looked entirely normal like one and he was guessing her front was just the same as how he remembered a woman to be. Sexual frustration much? Bad side of an apocalypse was the lack of willing tail running around. Nira was far too respectable to even get into any kind of intimate talk and Jake hadn't gone any further than Anfisa probably had. For a man with a healthy sex drive, that was rather frustrating. Besides, she'd most likely tear into him if he even tried making moves on her, his consciousness reasoned but the tiniest part of him said that she wouldn't and there was only one way to find out. "If you sit there without a blanket, you're going to get rather cold, you know." Another bad thing about the apocalypse. No heating, no hot water, and no electric. Barely any food these days either. Tins were still avalible, those that survivors hadn't already eaten. And ammunition was sacred, never waste it.

Anfisa turned her head and she looked back at Joshua. There was just something about the way that he looked without the shirt or the boots. He looked softer, more comfortable to be around. The woman stood up and turned herself to look at him. She did not know what sex was. She did not understand the concept of it. She did not understand how it was done, but if something was not done to stop either one of them, she was going to find out rather quickly. Anfisa did not seem to mind that she was walking closer to him while she wore nothing. It would make him aroused and it would probably make it harder on him. Sexual frustration was another thing that she did not understand, and since he was a perfectly normal man with a sex drive to match, she was probably making it very hard for him to control himself. "I don't want a blanket. It will get wet too, and I hate the wet. Besides, I don't get sick like you humans do." She nodded lightly before she decided to sit down on the bed and look out at the rain. There was only a little bit of window that they could look out of, but there was enough to see that the storm was not going to be going anywhere for a long time. She huffed lightly and shook out her wet hair. That was when she noticed that there was something wrong in his combat pants. She frowned lightly and moved forward, her hand pressing against the bulge. Poor thing did not understand that she was going to make him squeal or something. That would actually be kind of humorous to hear. Anfisa's brow lifted. "What's that?" She asked, turning her head to look at Josh.

It did make control very difficult, and she was stretching it towards its limits. Last time he'd had any decent time in bed was pre-infection, perhaps a decade or so before. He'd been off on routine training after that, and if a big physique didn't cause more frustration then what did? "We humans are very sickly creatures." Of course, she knew of his sarcasm, she knew it was simply his way of reacting to situations. He always got sarcastic and defensive if he was trying to hide something and Anfisa had just gone and put her hand on said something. The response was almost electric, Josh made a crying sound and leaped back across the bed as if she'd just stabbed him with something and huffed from where he landed, banded strong arms across his waist and shook his head. He wasn't in the mood for sex education lessons and there was nothing around to stop him from showing her. "Surely you know the difference between a man and a woman?" He edged quietly, shifting back into his previous position with a grimace but took hold of her hand as to stop her poking at him. It was kind of hard to explain to someone who'd never really found a good term for the word sex. It was something he was wanting, something he probably knew she knew nothing about. "That" is me, and "that" is rather sensitive so it'd be all fine and dandy if you don't press down on there, dammit." Now he just wanted to throw her on the bed and have his way with her. Life wasn't fair.

"Of course I know…" she frowned. Why wouldn't she know the difference between a man and a woman? She had just never understand why they were both so different from each other. She had never seen anything like it though, what he was trying to hide so desperately. Had she done something to make him upset? The last thing that she needed was a very pissed off Josh. He was not afraid to tell her how he felt and he was even less afraid to pick up a gun and put a bullet into her head. She watched him for a moment or so before she just pulled her hand out of his and she crawled over once again. Her head was cocked to the side as she unbuttoned his pants and slid them down until she could see exactly what was making the bulge in his pants. When she saw what it was, she frowned. She had never seen the male anatomy so stiff. She poked it again. And she even did something that would make any man pause. She leaned down and sniffed it. It was sort of funny to see the expression on her face. Her lips pulled back, but it did not stop her from poking and prodding it. She once even sniffed it. Josh was going to lose his tight military control on himself most likely, and she had no idea what she was doing at all to him. She would feel bad about it later, when she finally knew what sex was. For right now, the virgin woman was content to just poke him.

To him it was the equivalent of death. He'd never been good with innocent women but this was something else, she actually had no idea why did she? He hissed when she poked him, shifted back slightly but just stopped moving all together when she sniffed him that once and a groan pushed past from his throat before he could stop it, shivered happily. Nope, she probably hadn't and he was probably the only man she'd seen in such a state. Didn't he feel special? Joshua was dangerous, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she ever turned on his son or himself. Jake and Nira he could care less about and although they traveled together and were very good friends everyone knew he'd give it up if it meant keeping Embry safe. The soldier would put his life on hold, or even end it, for his son. Blunt talking no nonsense military man. But that control was completely gone by now and before she could poke him again he caught her hand in a tight but not aggressive grip to pull her away lightly and let his lips collide with hers. Strange? Very. Did she know what it was? He didn't know, but his mannerisms weren't all that aggressive so he hoped she'd realize he wasn't wanting to cause her harm. No, he'd rather ravish her in bed than harm her now

Nope. She had never seen a man in such a state. She did not understand what it meant to be sexually aroused. Well, sure, she had heard her parents doing questionable things back when they had lived alone in the city, but she had never gone up to see what they had been doing. She had been far too busy teaching herself how to speak and what not. She pulled back when he suddenly gasped and seemed to have just given up on something. Had he been content to do something else? She was not sure what he was thinking about, or what he was about to do. Anfisa had been close to just pulling away and leaving him be, but that all suddenly changed when Joshua grabbed her hand and lurched her toward him. Her eyes widened lightly and she started to pull away again when his lips met hers. She had never been kissed like that before, but she at least knew what it was, what she was supposed to do. Anfisa's hands came up and rested on his bare chest lightly. She did not know that there was another thing that he was wanting to do. She did not feel threatened. In fact, she felt good about what he was doing. It was her body reacting to what his own was reacting to. She did not understand sex, but her body did. She was getting aroused and she did not even know it.

He never pressed forceful on her. It was her first time, and he wasn't such a beast that he'd just take all for himself and give nothing back. At least he had the added bonus that the storm would make sure they were there for a while. Joshua let his lips gently try to coax hers into following the rhythm, hands smoothing down her sides to settle just above her waist. It was needy but forcefully controlled. He couldn't, wouldn't risk ruining this. It was amazing how the body knew what to do when the mind drew a blank. "Don't think, just go with it**,"** he murmured lightly against her lips when he had to pull away to breathe and lips met hers again after a moment or two. Never seen one in such a state? Hell no. Not even Jake would be this frustrated, the man only had a vague understanding of what sex was, let alone being as knowledgeable and experienced as the soldier she was probably straddling.

"Alright." That was the only thing that Anfisa said to him at first as her eyes closed and she allowed her body to do as it liked. She was still trying to understand exactly it was what he was trying to get her to do, but she was not going to push him away just because she was worried about something like that. She trusted Josh enough that she knew he would not hurt her. Well, he would not hurt her as long as she did not try to bit his head off, literally, or put his son in danger. She understood what it meant to be protective. At a time, she had needed to protect many things that she cherished. Her parents. Sure, they could take care of themselves in more ways than one, but she had still meant to protect them both, to keep them safe from dangers that neither had understood. Anfisa let her hands dip down and she touched that very sensitive part of his body again. She was wondering what he was going to do with it. She finally had to ask. "Why is it so stiff?" she asked between the little kisses.

Back to being people, or well on their way to being two legged humans again they would need protecting. They'd retain their strengths and their weaknesses, their emotional instability - most likely - and they did need protecting until that time. Josh wouldn't hurt her unless she did try to harm him or Embry, then he'd try and kill her. Josh let out a happy noise, hips pushing up against her hand with a soft whine. "It's what happens when a man finds a woman he likes," he replied. "All men do it," he mused between said kisses, hands pulling her lightly but closer to him. He was warm and alive, so was she. She was living and so was he. What he was going to do with it? Hell, she'd find out soon enough so she wouldn't have to question him like that.

You like me?" she asked quietly. She had come to notice that he trusted her enough that he would not shoot her, but she had always sensed that he did not like her very much. She could not blame him for that. He was paranoid and more than ready to protect the small boy that was his son. Embry was a good kid, and after being raised in a world that was dominated by zombies, he was no fool. He knew what his limits were. He knew what could get him hurt and what could kill him. That was why had had stopped trying to go out with his father and Jake when they sensed that whatever they faced would be too hard for him to be in the middle of. Anfisa was now pressed against him, her hands moving back up his body to rest on his shoulders and she pulled herself against him roughly. She was alive and he was alive as well. She liked how he was sending small shocks of sensation down her spine. It felt so real and it felt so good. What was he going to do now?

"I like you." Joshua replied. Strong words from such a freaked out man who'd rather die of infection than let someone look at his wounds. Embry wasn't a fool, but it didn't stop his father from worrying constantly. Perhaps when the kid was a bit older he'd stop worrying so much but it soothed his mind knowing Embry was safe in the RV with Jake, Nira and the other two Infected. Josh leaned back fractionally when she pressed to him, used the movement of his legs to suddenly roll them over and his lips moved from hers to dance down her neck. "I need you to trust me. Just this once," he murmured against her skin. Of course he'd stop the moment she got uncomfortable. The rubber edged dog tags most likely had fallen down to brush against her stomach but he'd never remove them. Shirtless showed off a tattoo on his upper arm and under that a serial number, a slash scar over his shoulder and a shrapnel scar to his shoulder coupled with various others both before and after the break out.

"I thought that you didn't," she said in a soft voice, but she did not dare say anything else. She did not want to make him upset just when he had admitted that he liked her a little bit. Did he like her in the same manner that Jake did? Jake had whispered many comforting things to her over the course of the year that they had been traveling together. It had taken just under that long for Joshua to stop trying to kill her, to trusting her, and now telling her that he liked her. It made something in her mind warm and become a bit fuzzy. She liked him too, in a strange way. Her body sure liked him, and it was going to like him even more when he finally got down to the actual act of sex. She found herself on her back, and no, she did not seem upset about that little detail at all. She was still trying to figure out what the stiff part of him had to do with what he was doing. "I trust you," came the reply. She trusted him enough to not shoot her ass now. Anfisa could feel something boiling in her veins already, something that was wanting to be released.

Jake was a friend, a very friendly friend but a friend none the less and he had no issues with falling asleep by her. Hell, he'd even fallen asleep with his head in her lap at one point. That had been funny as hell, considering Nira had gotten the chance to draw on him in pen. It had taken Josh that long to even enjoy being in the same room with her, and he STILL had issues with her parents. He still had issues with Anfisa herself but they weren't so pronounced he always had a weapon in his hand when she was around. Nah, he'd gone past that by now. The soldier pushed apart her legs lightly, let his hand trail up her thigh with a soft purr and leaned back slightly to just make sure she was ready for him. She wanted something and yet she didn't know what it was. He was going to show her and he was gentle with how he took her, hand threading in her hair and kissed her lightly on the lips, other hand bracing himself above her. She already had one probable source of pain, he didn't want to add his crushing weight to the equation.

Josh would not have to worry about her feeling any pain at all. It came with being an infected, in a way. She felt no pain. The only time when she felt pain was if she had been hurt badly. Him taking her virginity did not hurt at all, which meant that she was allowed to feel all of the pleasure coming from such a simple act. Well, now she understood why he had been so stiff. She also now understood how it all worked. So this was what sex was. Interesting. Anfisa took her hands and she ran them down his back. She was in marvel now at how pronounced his muscles were. Joshua was very different from Jakobi. He was mysterious and quiet. He did not show his emotions and he was somewhat dark. He was slow to trust and he seemed all too willing to kill. Jakobi, on the other hand, had a gentle side and he was more than willing to show it to his friends. Anfisa trusted them both, but now she seemed to feel a connection to Josh that she did not feel with Jake. It was most likely because Josh was the first one to take her. She was new to this, and Josh was the one that was guiding her through the pleasure and lust. Anfisa kissed him back quickly.

Joshua had said it once, and only once, that if he gave up the side that made him a soldier then discipline would fall. If discipline fell then so did humanity. Every inch of his being told him not to trust her, that one tiny chink in his armor made him trust her. Okay, he was quick to turn on people but in general he was fine. Jake on the other hand wasn't above pulling pranks on people, he wasn't above doing the most foolish people. There were no secrets with him, with Josh nearly all his life was a giant secret. Jake had little muscle. Josh was nothing BUT muscle. Strange, such a comparison. Now though, it seemed he'd be a little more hesitant to turn a gun on her than before hand. Now she understood what her parents had been doing, finally. Better late than never, sex wasn't something to be missed out on and under her hands the muscles clenched in an almost harmonic rhythm on their own, using his own legs on leverage. He knew how this worked, and by the end so would she.

Anfisa was ignorant about many things. Sometimes she could not understand why Josh seemed to hate her so much sometimes. She could not understand why some people did not just trust her. She knew that she was partly infected, but she was also sane and she was able to talk to others as if she were a perfectly normal human being. They just did not trust her and they wanted to kill her. That was just like what Josh had been like toward her for several weeks and months after they had brought him and Embry along. [b] So, this is sex. [/b] She said lightly, her eyes were bright and she watched him carefully. She was sure that the last time he'd bedded a woman had been right before his wife had been infected with the virus and he had killed her. Would this cause him to think back on his wife? She was not sure. Joshua had never talked about the woman, but Embry had been all the willing to tell Anfisa about his dead mother and why his father had been forced to kill her. Embry was not angry with his father at all. He understood why he had done it, even more so since the woman had been trying to kill and devour him. Anfisa's hips were pressed against his tightly, her hands going up to rest on his shoulder.

Joshua never spoke of women, never even turned his head to look at the faded pictures in magazines. Would it make him think back? He didn't know yet but most likely it would. She was the last woman for him to hold and to love. Did he love Anfisa? He didn't know. He doubted it, hs doubted he was capable of love anymore. As for why he didn't like her, or, well, hadn't liked it, her it was all irrelevant now because here she was in bed with him in the middle of a storm with a Charger somewhere outside. **This is sex.** Josh replied when she spoke, nipping lightly at her neck and watching her with a light hum. Josh would have saved his wife had he been able to, had he known how to restrain her, how to tie her up but then, no. That would have been inhumane, it would have been better to just put her out of her misery like he'd had to. Bases were toxic now, it kept a large number of very strong Infected from spilling onto the street. The thoughts. His friends, co-workers, people he'd used to drink with after work at the base bar. He'd never wanted Embry to see it, he'd had no choice after being taken by surprised and being pinned to the floor. He'd done what he could. He never spoke about her though, not a word.

Anfisa had always wondered what sex was. She had known what the word meant, that it was the act of reproducing, but really, she had not understood what it had meant itself, the act. She was now sure of what it truly meant to have sex, since she was in the middle of having it. Poor Joshua did not speak of his wife. She had been a pretty woman by what Embry had told her. She had been kind and a good mother. She had loved her husband and her young son deeply before she had been bitten and turned. Anfisa could not help but feel bad for him over what had happened to the woman. The infected girl closed her eyes and she kept her hips against his. He had not yet started moving, and it was starting to annoy her. She knew that if he simply sat there, nothing would happen. "Josh, I want to ask you something," she asked as she watched his face carefully. "Do you truly trust me now?"

The soldier tilted his head only slightly to one side, shifted his weight patiently and finally slipped into a rhythm against her body and the quiet eyes slid across to her. "I trust you." He trusted her never to harm Embry or himself, or anyone else they traveled with. It had taken six months but finally he'd started to trust her. He couldn't say the same for her parents but they never hung around the survivors any longer than they could help it, kept the sanctuary of the back room so if they stayed there then Josh would stay up front and he'd have no issues with them. His wife had been pretty, he had pictures in his wallet. A single album in his bag. Never took it out, it remained buried under all his things. You only had time for quick grabs you see? Embry, guns, food and that album had been the only things on his mind.

Anfisa did not say another word now. Her eyes slid closed and her body soon became like a live wire. She felt overly warm in some places. She felt warm and she felt alive. She had heard her mother describe how her father had made her feel so strangely. She had never really thought that her mother had meant sex, but she had. The infected young woman let her hands glide their way down his spine and pressed her fingertips to his muscles on his back. They flexed and worked as he moved himself against her. The rhythm was more than enough for her. Soon it did not take long for Anfisa to make noise. At first it was breathless little noises and soon they became squeaks. Before long, she let out a long and loud groan. There was a crack of thunder and a flash of light as the rain came pouring down outside even harder. The air was cold and slick, not unlike the sweat that was gathering at the nape of her neck. Anfisa's lips found his chin and she kissed her way up to his lips.

The soldier was very happy with what they were doing to say the very least, his hands on her and his lips moving to hers when she kissed him and growled softly against her lips. He'd not thought this would happen again, he wasn't sure that he'd ever feel the touch of another on his flesh again. It had been too long, how long? Too fucking long. Hands on her, lips on her, rhythm only urged by the rocking back of her hips and his hands moved up from her hips to cradle her face and rest the majority of his weight on his elbows. He loved those little noises, really, those little noises told him he was doing his job right. It also made it easy for others to track her. Josh missed the noise from downstairs, it was storming and the thunder and roaring of the rain wasn't enough to distract him from what he was doing to the infected woman

For Joshua, it had been a very long time since he had been intimate with a woman. It had probably been last with his beloved wife. And as far as Anfisa knew, that was a very long time ago. She pressed a hand to Joshua's back as he continued to work his body against her. She was starting to like sex. It felt good. The minutes ticked by as the rain began to fall harder and the frail house shook with the vibrations of the thunder outside. Anfisa was new at this, so it was just in those few minutes that she found her climax. She howled and clung to Josh. She was careful not to draw any blood. Despite the rain pretty much wiping away any trace of them, it would not stop the infected from scenting the blood if she dared break skin. Anfisa had not experienced anything like this. Joshua had not yet pulled out, and it made her wonder why. Anfisa's eyes snapped open as she heard the noises of something moving down below.

The noise from downstairs had been lost to him, he'd just longed more for the noises and the feel of another hanging onto him. He liked it when people clung, he liked feeling like he could protect. Although Anfisa was more than able to protect herself, in those moments she allowed herself to be vulnerable and in turn he allowed himself to be vulnerable to her. The blood would have alerted them to their location, so it was good she hadn't broken skin but still he'd have very nice crescent shapes in his muscles most likely. Oh well. Her climax drove him to his own, lips dropped down and buried his head into her neck and just held her there. After a moment or so, body relaxing he finally pulled himself free from her to tip himself from elbow to hand and kneel back to look at her. "You okay?"

"No. Something's wrong." The woman breathed as soon as he pulled out of her. The infected woman quietly got up onto her hands and knees, her head tipped upward as she took the scents in. "Something's in the house. It's not human." She glanced over at Josh quietly before she reached up and went over to where her clothes had been discarded. They were wet, yes, but she was going to wear something. She pulled her shorts on first and then came the bra and soon her hoodie was back over her body. She had gone from looking like a regular woman to being back to the zombie that she actually was. At least she wasn't mindless like the rest of them. She could hear the noises start to make their way up the staircase. She looked over at Josh. "Stay where you are." She carefully opened the door before she got down into a position that she had seen her father in so many times before. Her dark hair brushed the wooden floor before she let out an ungodly scream and pounced out the door at whoever it was.

Josh had shrugged back into his trousers and his shirt by the time she'd gone to the door. Whatever was out there paused, when she lunged out of the doorway and almost tipped backwards down the stairs and scattered back a bit. He wore nothing but fraying trousers and no shirt, that was all he wore. Long dark and uncared for that curled around his shoulders and long claws. Lanky and long with grayish skin. He smelt and looked infected, but no infected would have stopped half way down the stairs from a potential witch and bared sharp teeth at her. This guy did. Bared his teeth at her and it was clear in the back of his mouth he had something close to what a spitter had. But spitters were entirely female surely? Though... he wasn't afraid to spit on her if he had to.

Anfisa did sure look like a witch, and she was going to make it so that she did look like one. She stretched her arms out and she ran after this man, her face was still wet from the rain and her sweat from what she had just been doing with Josh. She looked like she had been crying. She screamed and ran after this strange young man. He looked so much different than a normal infected, and the way that he had paused when she had come lunging out of the bedroom made her wonder. Did he have a brain like she did? That would make no sense though. She was the only infected with a brain. Or at least, she had thought so. It did not matter though now. This thing was going to kill Josh, and she was not about to let that happen. She screamed and she continued to run after him, just like she had seen her mother do.

The strange boy did nothing but hiss at her and move backwards with a shrill shriek. He would spit at her if she got that close to him, that or he'd try and choke her half to death. His tongue didn't loll like a Smoker but that didn't mean he didn't have a long tongue like a Smoker did. The infected snarled at her quietly, leaning back to swipe at her with his claws and darted back down the stairs but he wouldn't go anywhere. He'd stay at the bottom because he KNEW there was a human up there, he could smell the scent all over her. Along with another, stronger smell to which he couldn't quite put his finger on. Little did he know he was smelling the aftermath of their sex. He seemed to have a brain, he hadn't turned and run and his stance was evidently one of intelligence, ready to run or stand his ground.

Anfisa stopped running after him for a moment or so. She snarled and growled. She suddenly turned and darted back up the stairs and into the doorway. "Get your things together." She snapped at Josh. She did not have time to worry about being nice. "I don't care if it's raining. We need to get back to my parents and the others. Whatever the hell that thing is down there... it's not normal. He didn't run away when I started going "witch" on him." She knew all too well that he would not follow if they were with a true hunter and witch. The two would be enough to keep him away. Anfisa was pulling her katana close before she placed it in it's makeshift sheath, which was tied to one of the belt loops of her shorts. She went out the door and she stood guard, staring down at the boy. He had to have heard her talking. He had to know that she was not an infected now.

He had heard, he'd heard more than enough. "You pretend witch yet talk like a human**,"** he growled. His voice was hoarse, unused but at the same time he seemed to have a grasp at English. Hell, if she wanted Josh going anywhere she'd have to wait for him to limp along. His ankle had decided that it wasn't going to ease pain with rest. When he came downstairs the mans gaze instantly turned on him, snarling loudly and crouching into a predatory stance. That was the human he'd been after, that was the thing that had led him there in the first place. How? The heat. He could sense the heat, the pulse. **You** he snarled. Josh had pulled his rifle into his shoulder. It seemed whatever openness Anfisa had seen before was gone now. Now he was wanting to kill the boy like he'd wanted to kill her.

"I don't just pretend witch." Anfisa snarled and bared her sharp teeth at him. She would protect Josh. She had finally gotten him to trust her. She would not let that trust fail because he got eaten by a zombie. She crawled down the steps a little bit. "I am half witch," she snapped and looked back up at Josh. She held her hand out, "My parents are across the street with Nira, Jake, Sassy, and Embry. If you can make it there on your own, I can hold off this guy. Send my father back for me if you feel the need to." She directed. "GO!" She snarled after a second or so. She bunched up her muscles, and then she lunged at the boy, knocking him off of his feet and onto his back. "You will not claim my companion as your meal!" she snarled.

Josh glanced at her then at the boy, turning and limping into the rain away from them. He knew where the RV was and hopefully he could get there without being back humped by a Jockey considering he could hear one. He would most likely send the Hunter back to get her if he had to. The boy snarled at her when he was lunged at, hit the ground hard and instantly brought up his hands to scratch at her, leg raising to try and kick her off of him "He's food!" He was human, he was food, yet here she was traveling around with them. To him he saw them nothing as meat carcasses, a meat suit. Something to gut. That would have to change though, but he'd never be vegetarian. Tongue snaking out to wrap around her neck with a low growl, no doubt that long tongue mixed with spitter... well... spit, made it a very nasty thing to get into contact with. Human brained, yet infected by body.

"He is NOT food!" Anfisa spat and she deflected his clawed hands as he continued to try and get at her. That tongue of his was also not going to be getting around her throat. She had just been about to grab her katana and pulled it free so that she could press it against his throat. Just as she was about to do so, she heard a shaking of the ground and a loud roaring noise. She lifted her head up and saw the tank come charging in their direction. Anfisa yowled and suddenly let the boy go as she made for a side room. Embry opened the door when he saw his father coming, his eyes wide. "Dad? Where's Anfie?"

When the Tank came charging at him, tongue reeling back in and instantly scrabbling for a side room with her, he didn't care if they'd been fighting now he just wanted in that room with her away from that damned Tank,. Everyone knew a Tank didn't give a damn about other infected and thus he was more than a little happy to suck up his pride and ignore her while standing in the same room with her. Josh limped aboard the RV and dropped in a seat to cradle his ankle, "Another infected, some sort of hybrid, spitter smoker hybrid. She stopped to get rid of him and told me to make a break for it." Her Hunter was scattering around, shot past Embry and out of the door before he managed to close it. Nuhuh, he wouldn't leave her alone with another hybrid

Everything that she had done so far. It was hard to think that she was blind in one eye. Wasn't it? When that charger from long ago had busted her head against a hard object, it had made her go blind for a few days. Well, she had regained her sight in one eye, but not the other. The Tank roared again and it began to try to come through the narrow doorway. Anfisa watched it carefully before she ran to a boarded up window and she began to rip away the boards. She didn't know what she would do from there, but that was better than being squished by a tank. Embry at once went to find a first aid kit for his father. "What happened to your ankle?"

Heh, fair to say he went along to help her, tearing at the boards like a wild thing. No Tank was going to smush him on his watch and they were lucky really. Her father had left the RV, human again but he still retained the strength, the skills and the instinct. Which was what probably made it so bizarre that the instinctive father side kicked in. He knew by scent that she was in there, he knew it, and now a Tank was chipping away at the doorway and thus he bounded instantly over and leaped on the back of the beast. Mad? Oh... Abso-fucking-lutely. "After that Charger came at us and then went after Sassy and Jake, I slipped and twisted my ankle. Ill be fine in a while," Josh replied. Jake had been able to run around the side to get back in, Josh had been forced to go the other direction.

Anfisa would deal with the boy later. Or perhaps not at all if she managed to get out and back into the RV with her father. She had heard her father and she had scented him by now. She turned her head to look at the tank. It wasn't even seeming to notice that it had a very angry hunter on its back. It continued to bash at the doorway, more and more wood being splintered away. Anfisa finally had a hole big enough for her to fit through. At once she let out a scream to her father. It sounded like she was in a panic, but she was actually telling him that she was alright. They were strange, but it fit them. Anfisa scrambled through the hole and then crawled her way up the side of the building. Once up there, she could see the RV. It would be simple enough to get there. She jumped down the other side of the building and she made a mad dash to the large vehicle. Embry once again opened the door for her.

The Hunter dislodged himself, turned and shot across away from them and unfortunately the hole she'd made wasn't the hole size that the hybrid needed, needlessly he simply scrabbled off more wood and yanked himself out before he took off running in some random direction. The Hunter scrabbled up behind her, ignoring the faint whines from his Witch until she actually crawled across and nuzzled into his chest. The man sighed quietly, arms around her. Josh turned his head to look at her, tilting it to one side. He didn't voice it, but it was clear he wanted to know if she was okay. Jakobi had a make shift crossbow and was standing beside the door, waiting in silence to see if there was anything else around that he could bolt through the head. Nira had started the RV's engine to get them out of there.

She had purposefully left the hybrid in such a problem so that he would not be able to follow her into the RV, where there were four humans inside. She was breathing heavily. "Tank. There's tank out there and a very angry hybrid. I'd say that we would leave before the hybrid figures out where we are," she muttered lightly before she picked herself up and made her way towards the back of the vehicle. If that hybrid had not tried to eat Josh, she would have invited him to come with her and her family. After the disappointment of the settlement being abandoned, they were going across the country. They knew for a fact that several people had lived and made an even larger settlement in the west. They were broadcasting their location on the radio. This time, Anfisa was sure that they would find other survivors and she could live with them. Embry was sitting beside his father quietly. He glanced at him before he said, "Did something happen between you and Anfie?"

Nira at once - when she heard - floored it to take them away from it, that and she could hear said very angry Tank in the distance. "I thought it was only you that was a hybrid**?"** Jake asked, setting the bolt down and looking over at her. That much was what they'd all though, they thought she'd be the only - pardon the harshness - freak of nature that they'd ever come across. Now she was telling them there was another running around out there? Well the hybrid had gotten out, he'd gotten out and he'd taken off. He'd find them again, these were humans and even if he did give up trying to eat them, it was still company. "Why would you think that?" Josh asked, sorting out his dog tags and went back to make a hold for his ankle to keep it in the proper position and ease the discomfort. He didn't want anyone knowing, he didn't want people knowing that he could be vulnerable. Especially Jake. He and the man got on so long as zombies were involved, after that it was best not leaving them in the same room together.

Trust me. I'm not the only one anymore," she said quietly as she sat down and fixed a bandage over her bad eye. Sometimes it still bothered her, the light. As long as it was covered for awhile, all would be fine. She shifted herself. She was not even looking at Josh now. Only ten minutes before, she had been underneath him on a bed. Now she was sitting there as if nothing had happened. Embry pouted and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Dad, I know you. You get that weird look on your face and you play with your dog tags when you're hiding something. What happened between you two?" Anfisa was the one to speak up,"Josh told me that he trusts me. That's it." She stood up now and went over to where her mother was being held by her father. She wormed her way in so that she could find warmth between the two of them. She was purring gently before she looked at her mother."You've been quieter than normal. Is something the matter?" she asked the Witch.

"And this hybrid is dangerous, right?" Nira asked, glancing over her shoulder. Jake was strangely not present, and neither was Sassy. "Let's just say for convenience sake that it is," Josh replied. Josh gave him son a look, brow raised "Happy now? I spilt that I trust her." It wasn't like he'd just taken the virginity of an Infected human, it wasn't like that at all. When she wormed in, her Hunter father relaxed his grip but the woman latched onto his arm with a whine. "I don't need to cry anymore, that's all. I don't have to cry," she said quietly. Her father still hadn't spoken a word, but he was definitely human. He didn't seem all that keen on his lover letting him go, in fact, lover she was considering even human or not it hadn't stopped their activities.

"Yes. He's dangerous. Maybe not as dangerous as I am, but he is still very dangerous." She said quietly as she looked up at her mother. "I know that you don't have to cry anymore, but you're being even quieter than normal." She had not heard her father speak a single word since she had turned him back to normal. It had been almost full three months since then, and he still had not said a single word while she was present to hear it. She was curious to know what his voice sounded like. Embry's eyes narrowed lightly, but he finally just shook his head and he got up to go to the bathroom. When he opened the door, he was not expecting to see what he had. The poor boy screamed and ran back over to his father. "There's something in the bathroom!" Anfisa was up at once, going toward the bathroom, snarling lowly.

Josh's reaction was instantly to sweep his son in his arms and shift lightly to grab a gun. Call him paranoid, but he'd spent how long taking care of the little guy? It was just reactions. The Hunter simply looked to where they'd gone, the Witch detaching from him and quietly crawling away. She spoke quite often, the Hunter remained silent. She'd called herself Tabitha now, but people rarely had to use it. She'd not given her lovers name and no one had pried. He was curled up in the bathroom, wedged between the wall and the toilet just underneath the window to which he'd crawled in, hands raising with a low growl and he cried, "No kill! No kill!" He wasn't there to harm them this time. He wasn't there to harm them, and instinct dictated he found somewhere he deemed safe so he shot out of the bathroom and down the hallway, darting into a closet and yanking the door shut behind him. He moved quick enough that Nira just looked god damn amused. Hell... she'd not expected that one at all, some hybrid mutant thing running around the caravan and as bad at talking English as Jake on a good day.

Embry was still shaking and he wound his arms around his father's neck and he buried his face in the man's throat and he whined quietly. The boy was still very young and he did not do well when he was surprised like that. Anfisa had just stared at the hybrid. "Huh. Look at that. That's the hybrid I was talking about before." She had watched the male hybrid up until the point that he had jumped into the closet, and that was when there had a been a girly scream and Sassy had fallen out of the closet with Jake. And it was awkward, because his pants were down past his hips. Anfisa's eyes had widened and she had nearly gagged. Dear Lord! There were some things that she had not needed to see, and that was one of them.

Josh had his arm around his son, his gun trained on said closet before he got up and moved them towards the front of the RV with a growl. Embry was his son, and he would die to protect him. "There, there… it's just... adult stuff." Yeah, like Embry needed to see THAT. Jake had almost let out a scream as girly as Sassy, dropping to the floor and covering himself with his jacket, his eye wide "What in the holy fucking shit was that**?"** Of course this was probably their... first time doing anything, and to have it interrupted so brutally was probably going to mentally affect him for a while


End file.
